Glens continue 100% start to go two clear at top

Glentoran won their second game of the season with a 2-0 victory over Glenavon at the Oval, moving them two points clear of the Irish Premiership table.

Declan Devine’s side won three games in a row with goals from Jordan Stewart and Jordan Jenkins in either half.

With a 2-0 home win over Dungannon Swifts, Coleraine are now two points adrift of the Glens, continuing their unbeaten run this term.

With a 2-0 victory over Portadown at Shamrock Park, Ballymena United opened the campaign with their second straight victory.

Before one player was sent off, Cliftonville and Larne at Solitude drew 1-1. Tiarnan O’Connor opened the scoring and Joe Gormley equalized.

When Ryan Cooney, who had given the game its opener against Bangor at the weekend, burst into the Glenavon box and unleashed an effort, but it was straight into Jacob Carney’s goal as the game approached at four minutes old.

Glenavon had the best chance of winning the half a mere twelve minutes later. Paul McGovern pointed to Stephen Mallon in space, but he slipped the ball to Jack Malone, whose shot was blocked.

Glentoran’s breakthrough came just before the half-hour mark. Josh Kelly’s solid midfield challenge allowed Stewart to regain possession by moving the ball to Ciaran Coll, who passed the ball to Liam Burt, who returned the ball to Stewart and fired a shot at him.

Carney made a fantastic save, but Stewart was the right man to head the rebound into the net.

Danny Amos’ low-fizzing cross from the left, which Glentoran should have doubled their advantage after 62 minutes, went just over the upright. Jordan Jenkins flicked an effort just in the opposite direction.

Goalkeeper Carney made three incredible stops to keep Glenavon in the tie ten minutes later. Jenkins, Charlie Lindsay, and Stewart each fired one more shots from the inside the box, but Carney equaled them all for the win.

After a quarter of an hour, Tomas Galvin’s low shot snuck past Aidan Harris’ goal. The bottom-of-the-table Dungannon Swifts got off the mark.

Declan McManus’ first goal of the season came 10 minutes later, and Coleraine did just that.

The Scottish keeper Alex Henderson and Joel Cooper both received a cross into the bottom corner of the net after receiving a cross from the back post.

After the visitors had blown a Cooper corner, Jamie Glackin doubled the home side’s lead just after the hour with an acrobatic overhead kick from six yards.

Before Aidan Harris proved his worth in the end, running out of his goal to deny Tomas Galvin, Will Patching wasted a number of good chances right away after the restart.

And as Rodney McAree’s side put together a better second half display, the Coleraine keeper was once more called into action to stop Brandon Bermingham from distance.

Three minutes before half-time, O’Connor broke the deadlock by imposing a dramatic Larne move. James Simpson was able to sneak the ball into Sean Graham, who deftly sent O’Connor scurrying inside from the left before arrowing a brilliant finish into the far top corner.

Gormley and Cliftonville responded shortly in the second half. The veteran striker immediately reacted after Matt Ridley made a good tackle on Rory Hale, who had just received the loose ball. He fired in from 20 yards. His effort swerved past Rohan Ferguson into the bottom corner after a deflection.

When Gormley and Michael Glynn steamed harmoniously before falling in Conor Falls, whose low drive was superbly smothered by Ferguson, the Reds were already in danger.

Moments later, O’Connor was almost denied the opener by Peter Morrison for his underhand backpass, but Shaun Leppard’s backpass held up.

When Graham advanced past Adebayo Fapetu and bore down on goal, only for Morrison to bravely spread himself and block with his feet, the Inver Reds could have doubled their lead shortly after the restart.

The decisive moment of the game arrived late. As the substitute bore down on goal, Glennn was dismissed for bringing down Benji Magee. Morrison correctly guessed to his left and comfortably saved the penalty, but the magee accepted responsibility from the spot.

Ballymena almost capitalized on Josh Ukek’s error in Shamrock Park’s quiet opening half, which gave the ball away inside his own half. Aaron McCarey tipped the loose ball past David Toure at the near post, but he was unable to stop him.

When Ukek converted a James Teelan cross at the back post on 25 minutes, Portadown thought they had won. However, after consulting with his assistant, referee Jamie Robinson upheld Ballymena’s claims that there had been a handball in the build-up and the effort was disallowed.

O’Neill saved Steven McCullough’s free kick when Portadown thought they should have scored, and Ahu Obhakhan headed home as Portadown put pressure on them.

Calvin McCurry’s low-angled drive was deflected behind by McCarey just before Ballymena had a chance in the opening period.

On 67 minutes, Ballymena returned the ball following a failed attack, and Kennedy nipped the ball in front of defender Divin Isamala to break the deadlock over McCarey.

After Dibaga’s timely save from Reece Neale’s free-kick, which was alert, the home side took the lead just three minutes into the game at Clandeboye.

When Bryden latched onto Lloyd Anderson’s through ball and fired home from a close angle on nine minutes, the Crusaders were soon able to level off.

Four minutes after Ben Arthurs was brought down by Dibaga, Bangor was given a penalty, but the Crusaders stopper dived to his right and denied Arthurs’ spot-kick.

In the 28th minute, Bryden scored his second goal of the evening by beating his marker and traveling to the edge of the box before soaring a low shot past Gareth Deane.

Cushnie’s back-healed effort from a protracted Neale throw-in slammed against the crossbar just before the break, denying Bangor a late equalizer in the first half.

After Arthurs was fouled by Kurtis Forsythe in the box in the 53rd minute, the Seasiders received their second spot-kick of the evening. The busy Crusaders keeper, however, denied Cushnie and Bangor their second of the evening.

When two players were sent off in a minute after two coaching staff members were already sent off earlier in the half, things started to get worse for Bangor. The first was when substitute Matthew Ferguson was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident before Stephen McGuinness received his marching orders for a foul in midfield.

Lee Feeney’s side thought they had won the game after five minutes when a build-up slowed the effort.