Linfield and Reds win to close gap on leaders Larne

Chris McKee and Matthew Clarke celebrate Linfield's opening goal against Dungannon

Linfield and Cliftonville moved to within five points of leaders Larne with home wins over Dungannon Swifts and Portadown respectively on Saturday.

Cammy Palmer and Liam McStravick netted to complete a comfortable 4-0 victory.

Cliftonville fell behind to Greg Moorhouse's opener but Joe Gormley's hat-trick and a late Ronan Hale goal gave their side a 4-1 win over bottom side Portadown at Solitude.

Moorhouse's close-range header took a deflection off Rory Hale to put the Ports in front in the 11th minute.

Alberto Balde floated in the corner and Paddy McNally headed the ball in the direction of the visiting striker who found the net.

Gormley had forced an early save from Jethren Barr and the Ports stopper also denied Sean Moore's first-time strike in the first half.

Two goals from Gormley in the space of four minutes swung the match in Cliftonville's favour, the forward drilling a shot into the roof of the net on 40 minutes and then rifling a drive into the bottom right-hand corner in the 43rd.

Gormley completed his treble on the 70th minute after he latched onto Jonny Addis's long ball and fired in from close range for his 11th of the season.

Ronan Hale added a fourth in the dying seconds with the last kick of the game and his side can close further on Larne when they host Glentoran at Solitude on Tuesday night.

Paddy McLaughlin's side lie third and have a match in hand over both second-placed Linfield and Premiership pacesetters Larne.

• Blues and Reds ease to comfortable wins
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Joe Gormley was on target twice within four first-half minutes at Solitude

With less than six minutes on the clock Palmer's pass split the Dungannon defence, allowing Vertainen in on the right hand side of the penalty area and he rolled the ball across the face of goal for McKee to convert from close range.

The home side doubled their advantage on 33 minutes when Palmer was again involved, this time his pass found Vertainen, who got the better of Mayowa Animasahun before curling a neat finish beyond Swifts keeper Declan Dunne.

Linfield added a third goal five minutes after the restart when Joel Cooper clipped a ball into the penalty area and McKee laid the ball off with a sumptuous back-heel into the path of Palmer who slotted home from close range.

Dungannon's misery was compounded in the final minute when central defender Caolan Marron was sent off for hauling down the clear-breaking Matthew Clarke.

Linfield hit the woodwork twice before substitute McStravick added a fourth in stoppage time, lashing home a loose ball inside the penalty area.

The weekend's other four scheduled matches were postponed because of frozen pitches caused by the recent cold snap in Northern Ireland.