Linfield stay top after Cliftonville stalemate

Linfield and Cliftonville remain locked on 14 points at the top of the Irish Premiership after a goalless draw at Solitude on Tuesday night.

The sides, in their first meeting since Cliftonville won the Irish Cup final back in May, played out a 90 minutes where chances were few and far between with the result keeping David Healy's side leading the league courtesy of goal difference.

At the Oval, Glentoran got back to winning ways to move into third with victory over Loughgall. After consecutive 1-0 losses, Jay Donnelly opened the scoring for Declan Devine's side before Daniel Amos' deflected strike made the points safe.

Dungannon Swifts are tucked in behind the Belfast trio in the table after they responded to last week's defeat to Portadown with another impressive Stangmore Park showing to beat Crusaders 1-0.

Champions Larne continue to struggle for momentum in the league as they followed up last weekend's big win over Linfield with a goalless draw away to Glenavon while Portadown rescued a point in injury time, drawing 2-2 with Coleraine having been 2-0 behind.

At Taylor's Avenue, things went very much according to form with Ballymena's 4-1 triumph representing a fourth straight win for the Braidmen, but a sixth consecutive loss for Carrick Rangers who remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

After a quiet first half in north Belfast, the game between the league's top two burst into life mere moments after the interval when Joe Gormley's defence-splitting through ball released Kris Lowe. With only Chris Johns to beat, the midfielder skied his volley over, spurning a gilt-edged opportunity for the hosts.

This missed chance seemed to ignite the visitors' attacking spirit. The Blues hit back and thought they had broken the deadlock in the 52nd minute when Matthew Fitzpatrick's towering header from Kyle McClean's inch-perfect free-kick found Joel Cooper, who unleashed a volley that arrowed into the top corner. However, the winger's ecstasy was fleeting as the offside flag cut his celebrations agonizingly short.

Buoyed by this near-miss, David Healy's charges continued to probe. Five minutes later, Chris McKee connected with Kirk Millar's tantalizing freekick, but his glancing header sailed agonizingly over the crossbar, further intensifying the away side's frustration.

Not to be outdone, Jim Magilton's men responded with renewed vigour. In the 65th minute, Ryan Curran pirouetted brilliantly on the edge of the area before unleashing a vicious shot that seemed destined to nestle in the bottom right-hand corner. However, Johns produced a moment of sheer brilliance, diving full-stretch to fingertip the ball behind for a corner, denying the Reds the breakthrough.

Glentoran have struggled for goals of late but fans had barely sat down when they were on their feet again at the Oval, with Jay Donnelly hitting the net after just five minutes.

David Fisher was given far too much time inside the Loughgall box, allowing him to roll the ball across goal and giving Donnelly the simplest of tap-ins from five yards.

On 20 minutes it could have been two. A delightful chip over the defence by goal-scorer Donnelly sent Jordan Jenkins clear. The striker got an effort away, but Nathan Gartside made a superb stop to knock the ball onto the upright and away to safety.

Donnelly then should have doubled his own tally on half-time after being sent through by Fuad Sule, but his shot was too close to Gartside who got a hand on it.

The hosts only had to wait nine minutes after the restart to get their second however.

The ball was half-cleared inside the Loughgall box to Amos who swung a foot making a poor contact, but his deflected effort trickled into the bottom left-hand corner of the net with Gartside scrambling across to no avail.

Caolan McAleer twice went close for the visitors but it wasn’t to be as the Glens held on to put a long-awaited smile on their fans’ faces.

There was more disappointment for Crusaders boss Declan Caddell as his side followed the weekend's reverse to Glenavon with another 1-0 loss, this time to Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park.

The home side broke the deadlock in the 40th minute when Gael Bigirimana's sliding pass put John McGovern through on goal, the striker taking a clever touch before sending a strong strike past the outstretched Jonny Tuffey

Dungannon had multiple chances to extend their lead, but it was the away side who came closest to finding a goal before the break when Kieran Offord's on-target strike was deflected onto the left-hand post by Danny Wallace, who then cleared the rebound.

Crusaders started the second half brightly and dominated after the restart with Jordan Stewart sending his strike narrowly wide in the opening stages of the second half.

Dungannon stopper Declan Dunne then made two skilful stops in quick succession to deny Offord's and Jordan Forsythe’s efforts.

In the 83rd minute Stewart's cross from the right-hand side was nodded on by the unmarked Harry Jewitt-White, but his header was just wide.

The visitors pushed for a leveller until the final whistle and in additional time Stewart Nixon’s looping cross into the box found Forsythe, who couldn’t keep his header from point-blank range on target.

Goals continue to be an issue for champions Larne who, after their 0-0 draw with Glenavon, have now scored just two goals in the first four games of their latest title defence.

It was a frustrating first half for Tiernan Lynch's side who were reduced to long-range efforts for the most part.

The best of those came on 22 minutes when Matty Lusty rattled the crossbar from the left corner of the box while Sean Graham couldn't put enough power or accuracy on his shot from inside the box after an intricate passing move.

The second half began in much the same vein with Larne dominating the ball but not troubling Gareth Deane.

Graham blazed over from Levi Ives' knockdown before the hosts began to make some forays forward. One of those saw David McDaid control a long free kick but he was denied by a Chris Gallagher challenge.

The moment of the match came on 85 minutes as substitute Paul O'Neill rose for a header that looked destined for the bottom corner but was incredibly clawed away by Deane.

That turned out to be a point-saver as the Lurgan Blues held on for a hard-earned point that means they have lost just one of their last five.

Portadown produced another late, late show to grab a share of the points in a 2-2 draw with Coleraine at Shamrock Park.

The visitors broke the deadlock inside the opening ten minutes, Rhyss Campbell with his second goal in as many games.

The winger started the move out on the left wing, bursting into the area past Lee Chapman.

His initial effort was blocked but with the home defence unable to clear the former Dungannon Swifts man reacted quickly to lash the ball high into the roof of the net from six yards.

The Bannsiders doubled their lead midway through the second half thanks to a well struck Matthew Shevlin penalty after Cameron Stewart had been upended in the box but Portadown came roaring back.

Ryan Mayse thought he had scored only for Brown to produce a fantastic fingertip save but minutes later he did find the net, breaking the offside trap to plant a low shot into the bottom corner.

Portadown threw everything at their opponents in the closing moments and were rewarded when sub’ Dougie Wilson slid in to score in the 96th minute to rescue a point for Niall Currie’s never-say-die team.

Ballymena have banked 12 points from their last 12 on offer with Ben Kennedy netting his 7th and 8th goals of the young season against Carrick.

Jim Ervin's side went in front with less than two minutes on the clock. Josh Carson swung in a deep free kick to the back post which was helped back across goal by Daithi McCallion and Aaron Jarvis was on hand to nod home from virtually on the goal-line.

The visitors doubled their advantage on the quarter-hour mark when a Carson corner wasn’t properly cleared and the ball dropped to left-back Danny Lafferty just outside the Carrick penalty area. The former Northern Ireland international took a touch before curling a lovely finish into the bottom corner of Ross Glendinning’s net.

The home side halved the deficit on 57 minutes when Kyle Cherry’s corner wasn’t cleared and defender Steven Gordon was on hand to smash the ball home from eight yards.

Ballymena responded as Sean O’Neill’s long clearance was flicked on by Ethan Devine and Kennedy’s first-time shot was brilliantly touched onto the crossbar and over by Ross Glendinning.

Carrick were inches away from restoring parity when Gordon’s angled free kick went all the way to the back post where Paul Heatley’s drive from an acute angle smashed off the crossbar.

But Ballymena would wrap up the points in injury time with Kennedy scoring a pair of late penalties.

The former Crusaders man's first effort came when Carrick substitute Josh Andrews was been penalised for a handball offence.

Even deeper in stoppage time, Aaron Jarvis seized upon a poor clearance from Glendinning and drove into the penalty area before being brought down by Gordon with the referee pointing to the spot and Kennedy again providing the finish from 12 yards.