Northern Ireland round-up: Title boost for Glentoran

Glentoran FC took a significant step towards the Northern Irish Premier Division title with a 1-0 home win against nearest challengers Portadown FC.

Comfortable cushion
The result, Glentoran’s first league defeat of their rivals this season after two previous losses, leaves the leaders 12 points clear at the top of the table. Andy Smith scored the only goal of the game at the Oval after 19 minutes, reacting quickest to a loose ball in the Portadown penalty area to turn and shoot low into the net for his 29th goal of the season.

Tense affair
In a tight game with few chances, Glentoran did well to stifle Portadown’s prolific strike force of Vinny Arkins and Gary Hamilton as they successfully protected their narrow advantage.

Chance for Coleraine
The result left Portadown nine points clear of Coleraine FC, although the third-placed side have two games in hand after a 3-1 win against Ards FC, who took the lead through Raymond Campbell just past the half-hour. However, second-half goals from Jody Tolan, Stephen Beatty and Rory Hamill turned the match around and extended Coleraine’s unbeaten run to 19 games.

Five for Linfield
Fourth-placed Linfield FC also enjoyed an impressive victory, winning 5-0 at Crusaders FC. Pat Wall opened the scoring after 32 minutes, before four goals in ten second-half minutes, from Glenn Ferguson, Mark Picking, Davy Larmour and Lee Feeney, sealed an emphatic win for Linfield.

Away wins
Meanwhile, Institute FC slipped into the bottom half of the table after a 1-0 home defeat by Newry Town FC, with Martin Reilly scoring the only goal of the game eight minutes from time. Lisburn Distillery FC took advantage of Institute's defeat to move into the top six with a 2-0 victory away against struggling Glenavon FC, thanks to first-half goals from David Irwin and Mark Holland.

Omagh continue to climb
On Friday night, Omagh Town FC continued their recent revival with a 2-1 home victory against Cliftonville FC, taking the lead through a Colm McCullagh goal after 15 minutes. Cliftonville striker Barry Patton equalised after 34 minutes with a goal against his former club, but Andy Crawford collected what proved to be the winning goal five minutes before half-time.