Irish League Football

Watch highlights as Carrick Rangers come from behind to beat Bangor 3-2 in the Irish Premiership at Taylors Avenue.

You can read the report from the game here

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Ballymena United have completed the deadline day signing of former Glentoran and Larne midfielder Fuad Sule from Indonesian club Peris Solo.

The 29-year-old won an Irish Premiership title during his time with Larne, where he spent five seasons before joining Glentoran in 2023.

The Dublin native then won the County Antrim Shield in 2025 with the east Belfast side before departing as a free agent last summer.

He has also had spells with St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians and Barnet.

Glentoran were also busy on deadline day as they added winger Josh Daniels to their squad on a long-term deal.

The 29-year-old previously featured for hometown club Derry City and Glenavon before earning a move to Shrewsbury Town in 2020.

He then joined Welsh side The New Saints in 2022 where he won three league titles, two Welsh Cups and two Welsh League Cups.

Daniels had his contract mutually terminated by the club to allow him to return to Northern Ireland for family reasons.

"Coming home was really important for me and my family and when the opportunity to join Glentoran came up it felt like the right time and the right club," he told Glentoran's website.

"This is one of the biggest clubs on the island of Ireland and one I've played against many times over the years. They'd shown an interest in me before I moved to Shrewbury Town and again during my time away, so I'm delighted everything has finally come together."

Elsewhere, Cliftonville made three deadline day signings as they brought in striker Adam Carroll from Warrenpoint Town, goalkeeper Zach Balfour from Annan Athletic and midfielder Josh Kelly on loan from Glentoran.

Bangor completed the permanent signing of Oisin Devlin, who was on loan at the Seasiders from Larne, while Crusaders signed defender Scot Rough from Scottish League Two side Stranraer.

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Details of the next two Irish Premiership streams that will be shown live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website have been revealed.

The BBC cameras will travel to Inver Park for top of the table Larne's home match against Dungannon Swifts on Friday, 13 March (19:45 GMT).

Earlier in the season, Larne were defeated by the Swifts at Stangmore Park before responding with a win in the following fixture between the sides.

Coleraine's trip to the Oval to play Glentoran on Friday, 20 March (19:45 GMT) will also be livestreamed.

The Glens have had a good record against Coleraine this season and have won both Premiership games between the sides.

These fixtures are the final two planned streams before the Irish Premiership split.

Irish Premiership games to be streamed on BBC iPlayer & BBC Sport website (times GMT):

Friday 13 March: Larne v Dungannon, 19:45

Friday 20 March: Glentoran v Coleraine, 19:45

Image source, Pacemaker

Crusaders boss Declan Caddell said that Fraser Bryden's injury "did not look good" after the striker was stretchered off in their 4-2 defeat against Larne at Seaview.

Bryden, who drew the Crues level with a stunning volley, required 10 minutes of medical attention after colliding with the post when attempting to meet a cross.

He was then taken off the pitch on a stretcher and Caddell confirmed he has since been transferred to hospital.

"No update as of yet, he is away to the hospital and it didn't look good," Caddell told BBC Sport NI.

"Just thinking of Fraser, he's been exceptional for us this season and let's hope it's not as bad as we think. He's knocked his leg off the post and signs after it are that it's not good, so I will go see him straight after this."

Caddell was disappointed that his side succumbed to defeat as, after Bryden was taken off, late goals from Matty Lusty and Paul O'Neill secured a hard-fought win for Larne.

"Up until Fraser got injured I thought we were the better side. Two poor goals we conceded first half, got ourselves back into the game as Fraser scores an absolute worldie and we had Larne completely rocked," he added.

"The injury deflated us, we didn't really recover and Larne made changes, the quality they brought on changed the game for them."

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Glenavon boss Michael O'Connor said that the impending investment in the club from Football International Limited [FIL] is a "really good thing".

The Lurgan Blues announced on Wednesday that FIL will acquire a majority shareholding of the club.

The deal will require a final sign off from shareholders, but FIL's investment is set to be staggered over a five-year span and O'Connor is pleased it is nearly over the line.

"I know there's investment coming in. I haven't met the investors yet, but I think it's a really good thing for the club," he told BBC Sport NI.

"From what I understand, they're football people who have been involved in clubs before and know their stuff.

"They're coming in to try and make Glenavon competitive again. It's not going to happen in a year; it's more of a four or five-year plan where we can build and try to push the club forward. It's a positive thing."

O'Connor hopes the investment can improve "behind the scenes and on the pitch" at the club.

"Football evolves every year, and you see full-time teams spending big money and bringing in top players. It's important we don't get left behind," he added.

"We have to compete on the pitch, but off it as well. It's about creating an environment where fans enjoy coming to football and building that atmosphere around the club."

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Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton said his side's display in their 2-1 loss against Glenavon was "unacceptable".

Ryan Curran fired the Reds in front at Mourneview, but their lead lasted just six minutes as Paul McGovern levelled for the Lurgan Blues.

Lewis Ridd saved Nathaniel Ferris' penalty before Harry Murphy scored what proved to be the winner as the Reds fell to a second successive league defeat.

"Unacceptable. Substandard. Awful from start to finish, even though we gave ourselves a head start. I thought we were really poor man for man. The opposition deserved to win," he told BBC Sport NI.

"They showed more appetite in the game. Albeit we created some really good opportunities, I still thought we were awful."

Cliftonville are without a league win since 13 December and Magilton was critical of his side's inability to fight back in the second half after going behind.

"Showing appetite and desire is non-negotiable. Glenavon are fighting for their lives. Some of those lads are fighting for their very legs at their football club. I'm not going to accept that. Not from us," he added.

"We didn't play well at all. In fact, we were awful, and that encourages the opposition. They stay in the game."

"We talk about attitude and character. That was nowhere near the levels. Nowhere near."

Magilton has called on the Reds to respond in the Irish Cup sixth round next week when they face Glenavon again, this time at Solitude.

"What we produced today was pitiful. Next week, we have to show what that shirt means. It's as simple as that.

"Glenavon will come here ready to stand up and be counted. It's a big game for them, and it's a massive game for us too. We'll see how we go."

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Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree has signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2030.

The 51-year-old took over at the helm of the Swifts in 2023 for his second spell in charge with the club winning the Irish Cup for the first time in their history since.

McAree's side sit fifth in the Irish Premiership this year and have lost just two of their last nine games.

"I've really enjoyed it since I've come back. We've had some success, we've tasted success and we want to try and taste some more," McAree said after the announcement.

"It's nice to show commitment as well to the club. It is something that I wanted to show.

"I'm happy and content where I am, I'm very ambitious where I am as well, and this is something I am glad to do."

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Coleraine boss Ruaidhri Higgins says his squad is "in a much better place now than six months ago" following another busy transfer window.

The Bannsiders have brought in further reinforcements in January after a busy summer with Mark Coyle (Shelbourne), Mark Connolly (Derry City), Ben Wylie (Portadown), Will Patching (Carlisle United) and James Akintunde (FC Haka) all arriving this month.

And Higgins believes his squad is really taking shape now as they push to get into Europe and close the gap to league leaders Larne.

"We're coming towards the end of our second transfer window. People always say after two or three windows you build your own team so we're very close to where we want it to be," said Higgins.

Higgins knows his squad depth will be tested as they play three away games in three different competitions in the next week, starting with Saturday's Irish Premiership fixture against Bangor at Clandeboye Park.

They then travel to the Oval to take on Glentoran in the rescheduled BetMcLean Cup semi-final on Tuesday before an Irish Cup sixth-round tie against Carrick Rangers on 7 February.

The former Derry City boss acknowledges the quick turnaround between games will be "a tough task" but one they must "look forward to".

"You want to be involved in as many competitions as possible. It's to be embraced and not complained about," he added.

"We have a good group, we'll be ready to go and I'm sure the squad will be utilised over the next week.

"You can't complain about it then when the schedule gets busy so we won't do that. We've a good group of players who area ready for the week ahead, starting with Bangor."

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Linfield boss David Healy said the playing surface at Windsor Park was "borderline unplayable at times" in his side's BetMcLean Cup semi-final win over Ballymena United.

Isaac Baird scored the only goal of the game in the first half to help the Blues reach the decider on Sunday, 15 March, where they will face either Glentoran or Coleraine as they look to win the competition for a record 13th time.

The game at Windsor Park was initially set to take place on Tuesday but was postponed by 24 hours due to storm Chandra and Healy was critical of the state of the pitch.

"The pitch is tough, it is borderline unplayable at times and that's no disrespect to Matt, the groundsman who has been left on his own with no afterthought given, so that's disappointing," he told BBC Sport NI.

"I'm disappointed for Matt because it's not his fault, he needs a little bit of help and my question would be if there are international games in and around this period there's no way the pitch would be the standard it is at the minute.

"Gary Haveron was heavily critical of it as was Oran [Kearney] and Lee Feeney in recent weeks and that's frustrating because everyone is talking about improving everything, the infrastructure and pitches and if we can't as the national football stadium no one else can."

Despite his frustrations with the pitch, Healy was pleased with his side's professional display as they kept a clean sheet on their way to the final.

"I thought we were deserved winners. We should have created better opportunities in the game. I thought in some moments our play was good and we linked the ball well.

"Straight away the overriding emotion is really pleased to be in a cup final and I thought the performance levels and clean sheet were good."