Irish Premiership: Cliftonville go top as Glenavon beat Crues

Ronan Doherty scored the only goal of the game as Cliftonville beat title rivals Linfield 1-0 to go top of the Irish Premiership table.

Elsewhere, Glenavon stunned title challengers Crusaders 4-2 at Mourneview Park and Coleraine beat Newry City 2-1 at the Showgrounds.

Glentoran against Ballymena United was postponed following a pitch inspection.

Cliftonville held on for a big three points as Doherty’s first-half goal secured the win for the Reds at Solitude.

The midfielder opened the scoring in the 12th minute when he ran onto Ronan Hale’s perfectly weighted through ball to put the hosts in front with a crisp finish.

The hosts edged the first half but were nearly made to pay when Joel Cooper went down in penalty area under a challenge from Levi Ives as the winger tried to get on the end of Eetu Vertainen’s cross, but referee Tim Marshall waved away any appeals.

The reigning champions reacted in the second half, with Cooper’s effort being saved from close range by Nathan Gartside before Ives was forced to head Daniel Finlayson’s effort off the line from the resulting corner.

In the same passage of play, Marshall was again in the spotlight when he waved away Linfield’s protests for a handball by Jamie McDonagh in the Cliftonville penalty area, much to the frustration of David Healy.

The Cliftonville goal remained under siege for the remainder half as the south Belfast side pushed for an equaliser but Paddy McLaughlin’s men held firm to secure all three points.

Glenavon dent Crusaders’ hopes

Two goals from Peter Campbell along with a Matthew Fitzpatrick strike and a comical Jarlath O’Rourke own goal secured all three points for Gary Hamilton’s side at Mourneview Park, despite a screamer by Billy Joe Burns.

The home side broke the deadlock nine minutes before the break when the in-form Campbell created half a yard of space on the edge of the box before firing a fierce effort into the bottom right-hand corner.

Glenavon’s second came just four minutes later through Fitzpatrick, who netted his 10th league goal of the season with a close-range header.

Philip Lowry couldn’t miss from close range as he turned in his 13th league goal of the season to pull one back for Crusaders early in the second half but, just minutes later, the Lurgan Blues regained their two goal cushion when Campbell helped himself to his second goal of the night.

Crusaders again reduced the deficit thanks to a spectacular strike by Burns, who let fly from 20 yards after flicking the ball over the defender’s head, but Glenavon made sure of the three points with just minutes to play as O’Rourke headed over Jonathan Tuffey and into his own net.

Coleraine battle past Newry

Coleraine moved to within two points of fourth placed Crusaders thanks to a hard-earned 2-1 win in difficult conditions at Newry City.

Flowing play was difficult on a Showgrounds pitch that had passed a pitch inspection ahead of the match, and Josh Carson fired the visitors into the lead after 34 minutes with a beautifully executed free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.

Michael McCrudden doubled their advantage just after the hour mark when he was given the time and space to fire low under the dive of Newry keeper Steven Maguire.

It looked as if the Bannsiders would run out comfortable winners but Daniel Hughes’ 85th penalty changed all that.

James Teelan must have thought he had scored when put through one on one with Marty Gallagher but the Coleraine keeper got a vital touch to prevent an equaliser.

Teelan had other chances, as did the Bannsiders forward Jamie Glackin who saw his effort headed off the line by Ryan McGivern, but Coleraine’s greater experience saw them hold out for a welcome three points.