Irish League Football

Image source, Pacemaker

Portadown manager David Jeffrey says he will continue to "support" and "encourage" his players as they seek their first points of the season.

The Shamrock Park outfit fell to a 2-0 home defeat by 10-man Larne on Saturday as Tomas Cosgrove capitalised on a mistake to give the defending champions an early lead.

Although the Inver Reds lost Kevin O'Hara to a red card for a high foot before the break, Sean Graham would seal the points with his side's second goal 11 minutes after the restart, leaving the Ports with nothing to show for their efforts after six games.

"There has been things that are positive, there has been aspects of our play that I'm pleased with, but the be all and end all is what you do in both boxes," Jeffrey told BBC Sport NI.

"You have to be able to defend better and be more clinical when opportunities arise. Had we taken our chances, we could even have got a point and those are the bits that are tough.

"You have to continue to support your players, encourage them. They have got to take responsibility as well, but ultimately it's about trying to encourage them, trying to support them, trying to help them eradicate the simplest of errors so we are not punished in the way we are."

Portadown's task doesn't get easier on Tuesday [19:45 BST] when they host a Linfield side that has won five league games on the spin since their opening day defeat by Ballymena United.

"There is a limited time to recover but the players will do that and we'll look forward to Tuesday evening," Jeffrey continued.

"It's another opportunity to see if we can get some points on the board.

"We know the qualities of Linfied as we knew of Larne.

"Today we tried to get something from the game. It was our own faults we didn't but we will go again on Tuesday."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Details of the next 12 Irish Premiership matches that will be streamed live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website have been announced.

The BBC cameras will travel to Stangmore Park for high-flying Dungannon Swifts' game against Carrick Rangers on Saturday, 10 October.

Defending Irish Premiership champions Larne's match against Coleraine will also be live on Friday, 16 October followed by Portadown v Linfield the next week.

On Friday, 30 October, the Bannsiders welcome the Glens to the Showgrounds, while their trip to face Linfield will also be streamed on Saturday, 7 November.

In November, both Cliftonville's home game against Glentoran and the Glens' match against Larne will be live on the BBC iPlayer and app.

Newly promoted Limavady United's home match against early pacesetters Coleraine will be streamed on Friday, 4 December.

On Friday, 11 December, Bangor welcome Linfield to Clandeboye Park before the Blues host Jim Magilton's Cliftonville on Saturday, 19 December.

The final stream of 2026 will come from the Windsor Park as Linfield take on Coleraine on Tuesday, 29th December.

Meanwhile, the first Irish Premiership stream of 2026 takes place on Saturday, 2 January when Glentoran face Cliftonville.

Next 12 live Irish Premiership games (all BBC iPlayer & website)

Saturday, 10 October - Dungannon Swifts v Carrick Rangers (18:00 BST)

Friday, 16 October - Larne v Coleraine (19:45 BST)

Friday, 23 October - Portadown v Linfield (19:45 BST)

Friday, 30 October - Coleraine v Glentoran (19:45 GMT)

Saturday, 7 November - Linfield v Coleraine (18:00 GMT)

Friday, 20 November - Cliftonville v Glentoran (19:45 GMT)

Friday, 27 November - Glentoran v Larne (19:45 GMT)

Friday, 4 December - Limavady United v Coleraine (19:45 GMT)

Friday, 11 December - Bangor v Linfield (19:45 GMT)

Saturday, 19 December - Linfield v Cliftonville (18:00 GMT)

Tuesday, 29 December - Linfield v Coleraine (19:45 GMT)

Saturday, 2 January - Glentoran v Cliftonville (18:00 GMT)

Image source, Pacemaker

Glentoran kept up their pursuit of Women's Premiership leaders Cliftonville as they came from a goal down to defeat Linfield 4-2 in Monday's game at the Blanchflower Stadium.

The victory moves the Glens to within five points of the pacesetters as the league enters the series of three sets of post-split fixtures.

Eva Myles had Linfield ahead after 13 minutes but goals from Faye Loughran and Nadene Caldwell in the opening five minutes of the second half put Glentoran in front.

Cora Chambers equalised for the Blues on 55, but Kelly Crompton was on target and Naomi McLaughlin found the net in stoppage time to secure the win for the Glens.

With the regular 14-game season complete, the league splits into top and bottom halves for the remaining weeks of the campaign.

Linfield and Lisburn Rangers complete the Section A line-up, with Section B made up of Derry City, Crusaders Strikers, Lisburn Ladies and Larne Women.

Attention switches to the Women's Challenge Cup semi-finals on Friday night as Lisburn Ladies face Glentoran and Crusaders play Cliftonville.

Women's Premiership post-split fixtures

Section A

Friday 18 September

Cliftonville Ladies v Lisburn Rangers (20:00 BST)

Glentoran Women v Linfield Women (19:45)

Friday 25 September (19:45)

Glentoran Women v Lisburn Rangers

Linfield Women v Cliftonville Ladies

Sunday 4 October (18:00)

Cliftonville Ladies v Glentoran Women

Lisburn Rangers v Linfield Women

Section B

Friday 18 September

Crusaders Strikers v Larne Women (20:00)

Derry City Women v Lisburn Ladies (19:45)

Friday 25 September

Derry City Women v Larne Women (19:45)

Lisburn Ladies v Crusaders Strikers (20:00)

Sunday 4 October (18:00)

Crusaders Strikers v Derry City Women

Larne Women v Lisburn Ladies

Image source, Pacemaker

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

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.