Linfield victory hands Longford a lifeline

Linfield - 3 Glentoran - 2: Linfield, the Irish League champions, handed Longford a Setanta Cup lifeline at Windsor Park last…

Linfield - 3 Glentoran - 2: Linfield, the Irish League champions, handed Longford a Setanta Cup lifeline at Windsor Park last night. The Blues, defeated by the FAI Cup specialists in their opening Group One game, revived hopes with this convincing win.

Two first-half goals left Glentoran with a huge second- half task. They scored almost immediately after the interval but despite cutting Linfield's two-goal lead on two occasions it would have been an injustice had Roy Coyle's men gained anything from this tie.

Respective managers were cautious about showing their hands ahead of Saturday's potential league decider.

The home side opened the scoring in the 11th minute when former Liverpool apprentice Davy Larmour met Steven Douglas's cross to nod the ball past Elliott Morris in goal. Four minutes later Linfield almost scored a second when Peter Thompson beat Morris with a shot that thumped the crossbar and rebounded to safety.

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After a considerable amount of probing in front of Morris's goal, the Glens goalkeeper was beaten a second time in the 35th minute. Defender Steven Douglas broke clear thanks to Shea Campbell's incisive pass and crossed for Thompson to score.

Glentoran responded with a great chance to halve the deficit but with only goalkeeper Alan Mannus to beat, Kevin Keegan steered his shot woefully wide. Morris kept Glentoran in contention with a superb save just before the interval tipping over Thompson's header.

Glentoran introduced top-scorer Michael Halliday at the start of the second half and with his first touch he brought the Glens back into the game. Halliday claimed his 30th goal of the season tapping in Chris Morgan's measured cross.

However, Linfield boasted a two-goal cushion again in the 58th minute when substitute Philip Simpson deflected Aidan O'Kane's shot past his stranded goalkeeper.

Typically, though, when these two sides meet the affair is never over until the the final whistle.

Linfield were forced to sweat out the final five minutes, and four minutes of injury time, after Glentoran's former Aston Villa midfielder Gavin Melaugh scored with a free-kick with five minutes remaining. His goal left a scoreline that failed to reflect Linfield's dominance .

LINFIELD: Mannus; McShane, Murphy, Gault, Campbell, Douglas, O'Kane, Thompson, Larmour, King, Bailie. Subs: Picking for Thompson (68 mins), McCann for McShane (79 mins), McAreavey for Gault (85 mins).

GLENTORAN: Morris; Nixon, Glendinning, Ward, Holmes, McCann, Melaugh, Keegan, Morgan, McCallion, Parkhouse. Subs: Halliday for Keegan and Simpson for Holmes (half-time).

Referee: Alan Kelly (Cork).