Carrick Rangers midfielder Kyle Cherry with an early calling card on Cliftonville's Liam McStravick on the touchline.

McStravick is able to continue after treatment.

Referee Declan Hassan keeps his cards in his pocket.

Patrick Solis Grogan is called into action for the first time this afternoon as he gathers Ross Clarke's weak shot.

Plenty of early possession for Glentoran, but no big chances to grab an early goal in the opening few minutes.

Elliot Dunlop drops his shoulder to gain half a yard of space in the Limavady penalty area and rolls the balls invitingly across the face of goal but there are no takers as the ball goes behind.

We are off and running at Shamrock Park.

Huge task ahead for the Ports, but if anyone can turn things around it is manager David Jeffrey.

Referee Christopher Morrison gets the ball rolling on a balmy afternoon at Seaview.

Carrick Rangers' Aidan Steele gets us under way on a bright afternoon at Taylors Avenue.

We are off and running in east Belfast.

Will Bangor be the victors at the Oval for the first time in the Irish Premiership since 1993 or can Glentoran get back to winning ways?

Here is a quick reminder of today's fixtures.

Image source, BBC Sport

Last year's beaten finalists Cliftonville will host Glentoran in the quarter-finals of this season's ToalsBet Senior Shield.

The other last-eight ties which emerged from Monday night's draw were Dundela against Larne, Crusaders against Ballymena United and Ards at home to Bangor.

The four ties are scheduled to be played on Tuesday 13 October.

The draw was also made for the semi-finals of the competition, with Dundela or Larne drawn to face Crusaders or Ballymena and Cliftonville or Glentoran at home to Ards or Bangor.

ToalsBet Senior Shield quarter-finals

Cliftonville v Glentoran

Dundela v Larne

Crusaders v Ballymena Utd

Ards v Bangor

Semi-finals

Dundela/Larne v Crusaders/Ballymena

Cliftonville/Glentoran v Ards/Bangor

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Dylan Sloan scored the only goal of the game as defending Irish Premiership champions Larne beat Bangor 1-0 at Inver Park on Tuesday.

Holders Cliftonville will face rivals Glentoran in this year's Women's Challenge Cup final.

The Reds are aiming to secure a third successive Challenge Cup after beating Linfield in last year's showpiece at Windsor Park.

At Dixon Park, the holders took an early lead against rivals Crusaders when Caitlin McGuinness fired home after just five minutes before her sister, Kirsty, doubled their advantage.

Louise McDaniel then slotted home Cliftonville's third just before the break as the side progressed to their fourth successive decider.

It was a much tighter match at Solitude and it took until the 81st minute for Glentoran to break the deadlock against Lisburn Ladies when Gracie Conway headed home Emma McMaster's cross.

The Reds may have won the past two Challenge Cups, but the Glens hold the record for the most wins with 11 titles.

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Carrick Rangers forward Paul Heatley has been named August's player of the month by the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association.

The 39-year-old, who u-turned his retirement decision at the end of last season, made a superb start to the new campaign.

Heatley netted three times as Carrick won all but one of their opening Irish Premiership fixtures.

"I think it's more a reflection of the team rather than me, to be honest," Heatley said.

"It's a really good strong start by the team and everyone's just hit the ground running this year again.

"It's really important we focus on getting a really good start to the season because early points on the board are a massive help down the line."

Sean McAllister of Dungannon Swifts was second, and Linfield's Adam Frizzell was third.

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Two teams locked together on nine points meet at Taylors Avenue.

Carrick Rangers manager Stephen Baxter makes five changes to the side which started last week's 1-0 defeat at Linfield - all of them enforced.

The experienced duo of Jimmy Callagher and Paul Heatley are suspended after being sent off at Windsor Park while injuries rule out BJ Burns, Luke McCullough and Matthew Snoddy.

The men to come in are Kym Nelson, Daire O'Connor, Nedas Maciulaitis, Kyle Cherry and Caleb Hawthorne.

The situation is a lot simpler for Reds' boss Jim Magilton who goes with the same starting XI that began last weekend's defeat of Portadown.

Carrick Rangers: Gartside, Nelson, Forsythe, O'Connor, Gibson, Maciulaitis, Steele, Buchanan-Rolleston, Crowe (c), Cherry, Hawthorne.

Subs: Agnew, Lecky, Moore, Hastings, Crown, Connelly, Carlisle.

Cliftonville: Morrison, Samuels, O'Connor, Hale (c), Healy, McClelland, McMaster, Quinn, Bannon, McStravick, Sheridan.

Subs: Cremen-Cowan, Campbell, Leppard, Conlan, Thompson, Gormley, Hawthorne.

Image source, BBC Sport

Linfield made it four league wins on the bounce with a 1-0 win over nine-man Carrick Rangers at Windsor Park.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men early in the second half as Jimmy Callacher was dismissed, before Ben Hall put the hosts in front shortly after.

Paul Heatley was shown his marching orders in injury time for an elbow on Dane McCullough, with the visitors finishing the game with just nine players.

There are three alterations to the Glentoran side who struggled against Larne last Friday night and were beaten 2-1.

Zeno Ibsen Rossi, Jack Malone and Ross Clarke replace Aaron McEneff, Josh Kelly and James Douglas.

Lee Feeney made seven changes to his starting XI who drew with Ballymena United a week ago ahead of Tuesday's defeat by the Inver Reds.

This afternoon, he shuffles the pack once again, and makes five switches with Reece Neale, Harry Lynch, Liam Hassin, MacKenzie Strachan and lestyn Hughes coming into the side.

Lewis Harrison, Ben Cushnie and Oisin Devlin drop to the bench, while Jack O'Mahony and Jeremi Rodriguez are not involved in the squad.

Glentoran: Crellin, Cooney, Kane, Rossi, Brown, Singleton, Douglas, Malone, McMenamin, Gallagher, Stewart.

Subs: Mills, Daniels, Clarke, Larmour, Rogers-Duffy, Malone, Jenkins.

Bangor: Solis Grogan, Francis, Neale, Lynch, Harrison, O'Mahony, Mitchell, McRoberts, Devlin, Strachan, Boyd.

Subs: Deane, McGuinness, Hassin, Cushnie, Rodriguez, Hughes.

Image source, BBC Sport

Defending Irish Premiership champions Larne continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 win over Bangor at Inver Park.

The home side dominated possession in the first half but struggled to break through a resolute Bangor defence.

However, Dylan Sloan broke the deadlock on 76 minutes when his effort from range found the top corner.

The result means that Bangor have now registered just a single point in their opening five games, while the Inver Reds have now won their past two fixtures.

Read the full match report here.

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Basement side Portadown welcome seventh-placed Larne to Shamrock Park this afternoon seeking their first point of the season.

Manager David Jeffrey will be looking for a response this afternoon after losing all five of their games so far, and the former Linfield boss makes three changes to his side from the XI that started in the 3-1 loss to Cliftonville last weekend.

Sean O'Mahoney-King, Michael Hewitt and Finn Flanagan all come in hoping to make a difference to a side short of confidence.

Larne have only played three times so far this season due to their European exploits, but they are unbeaten.

Manager Gary Haveron makes four changes to his line-up from Tuesday night, when they saw off Bangor 1-0.

Mark Randall, Kevin O'Hara, Montel Gibson and James Simpson come into the team as Larne flex their depth.

Portadown: Barry, Altintop (c), MacKinnon, O'Mahony-King, Chapman, Fyfe, Traynor, Teelan, Kennedy, Hewitt, Flanaghan.

Subs: McCarey, Ismala, Carson, Towe, Obhakhan, Falls, Scott.

Larne: Ferguson, Ridley, Donnelly, Gallagher, Randall, Graham, O'Hara, Cosgrove (c), Gibson, Bent, Lusty.

Subs: Carney, Wallace, O'Neill, Doherty, McEneff, Sloan, Lusty.

Image source, BBC Sport

Dungannon Swifts' impressive early season form continued with a fourth win on the bounce thanks to a 2-0 win over struggling Limavady United.

Leo Alves' free-kick in the first half and a close range header from Junior after the break were enough to take the Swifts top of the Irish Premiership ahead of Coleraine's match against Crusaders on Saturday evening.

The lively Alves curled home from the edge of the penalty area on the half hour despite Marty Gallagher getting a hand to the set-piece before the United keeper was left disappointed again when Junior bundled in the second on 68 minutes.

Limavady United new boy Jamie McGonigle, who was handed his debut after joining on loan from Coleraine on deadline day, went close on a couple of occasions but the Roesiders finished the day still looking for their first points of the season.

Crusaders make one change as they bid for a third straight league win on their own turf at Seaview.

It's a straight swap for Declan Caddell in midfield as Lloyd Anderson replaces Jack Doherty.

Limavady boss Paul Owens names the same side which lost to Dungannon last week as the Roesiders attempt to turn a series of near misses into their first points of the campaign.

Crusaders: Callister, Forsythe, Kelly, Blaney, McKay, Weir, Anderson, Jewitt-White, Dunlop, Wardell, Reid.

Subs: Brown, Rough, McKechnie, Doherty, Mulholland, Maguire, Barr.

Limavady United: Gallagher, Farren, T Boorman, Wilson, Lafferty, S Lowry, P Lowry, Gaston, Butcher, McGonigle.

Subs: Doherty, Duffy, O'Donnell, R Boorman, Brown, Carlin, Boyd.

Image source, BBC Sport

Two teams who entered the 2026-27 season with lots of excitement, optimism and plenty to prove still await their first points of the season.

For Portadown, the arrival of David Jeffrey was supposed to signal the start of a new era, with the Irish League veteran making plenty of changes in the off season.

As for newly promoted Limavady United, the return to the top flight ended an 18-year wait for Premiership action.

The Roesiders have scored just once, while the Ports have struggled to find consistency at both ends and have conceded the second highest number of goals.

But what has gone wrong so far? BBC Sport NI explores some of the early warning signs within both clubs.

Image source, Press Eye