Soccer

Danske Bank Premiership round-up: Glens too good for Linfield as Coleraine win

PACEMAKER BELFAST  26/12/2019 Glentoran v Linfield  Danske Bank Premiership Glentoran's David Nasseri celebrates after todays game at The Oval in Belfast Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
PACEMAKER BELFAST 26/12/2019 Glentoran v Linfield Danske Bank Premiership Glentoran's David Nasseri celebrates after todays game at The Oval in Belfast Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker PACEMAKER BELFAST 26/12/2019 Glentoran v Linfield Danske Bank Premiership Glentoran's David Nasseri celebrates after todays game at The Oval in Belfast Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Danske Bank Premiership

Coleraine 2 Ballymena United 0

COLERAINE kept their title challenge on track with a derby win over Ballymena at Ballycastle Road thanks to first-half strikes from Josh Carson and Jamie Glackin.

Carson drilled a shot into the bottom corner after Aaron Canning's throw-in had been flicked on by Eoin Bradley in the ninth minute. Eight minutes later, Glackin put away the rebound after picking up on a loose ball after Jordan Williamson had saved from Bradley.

Ballymena were reduced to 10 men after the break when Williamson handled outside his penalty area.

Glenavon 5 Dungannon Swifts 0

CONOR McCloskey began Glenavon’s rout of Dungannon after just 15 seconds at Mourneview Park when he powered into the box to fire a rising drive past Conner Byrne.

Gary Hamilton’s men doubled their lead on the half-hour mark when Jordan Jenkins found the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. The Swifts’ afternoon went from bad to worse before half-time when midfielder Terry Fitzpatrick was sent-off for a second yellow card.

Glenavon's front two combined again on 64 minutes, with Jenkins surging into the penalty area before teeing up McCloskey to side-foot home.

Josh Daniels nodded home Glenavon's fourth from a McCloskey corner, while Robbie Garrett completed the scoring with a left-foot drive from just outside the box.

Glentoran 3 Linfield 0

AN ELVIO Van Overbeek opener and a brace from Hrvoje Plum helped Glentoran humble champions Linfield and stretch their unbeaten run to 11 at the Oval.

The Glens led at half-time thanks to Van Overbeek’s strike and while Linfield came out all guns blazing after the break, they couldn’t make it count. Andy Waterworth had a header disallowed for offside, before Glentoran doubled their lead through Plum's 20-yard strike with 15 minutes to go.

Plum was then fouled by Josh Robinson in the area, with the Croatian subsequently beating Rohan Ferguson with a well-struck penalty.

Institute 0 Warrenpoint Town 1

BASEMENT club Warrenpoint moved to within a point of Institute thanks to Éamon Scannell's 64th-minute goal earned Warrenpoint Town in a relegation battle at the Brandywell.

Town keeper Mark Byrne made an excellent save to deny Brendan McLaughlin early on before the Institute man headed over a glorious chance.

Joe McCready also wasted a couple of chances for the home side before Scannell struck the winner.

Institute produced a furious finale, but Barry Gray’s men held on to earn a crucial victory.

Larne 0 Carrick Rangers 0

LARNE and Carrick Rangers played out a disappointing scoreless draw in the east Antrim derby at Inver Park.

The biggest chance of the first-half fell to Carrick's Lloyd Anderson, who forced a fine save from Conor Devlin after finding space in the Larne penalty area.

Martin Donnelly, Larne's leading scorer this season, should have broken the deadlock a minute after the restart, but he headed wide after being picked out by a fantastic Ben Tilney cross.