by DSFC Media | October 14, 2026 | Match Report
Three goals helped the Swifts to defeat Armagh City at Holm Park to reach the semi-finals of the Mid-Ulster Cup for the first time in two seasons.
Rodney McAree named a much-changed side from the league defeat on Saturday against Carrick Rangers. He made eight changes, with only Kealan Dillon, Adam Glenny and Shea Gordon renaining on the team sheet.
The game saw the return of Declan Dunne in the Dungannon Swifts goal following his three-game suspension after being red carded in a 3-0 defeat against Crusaders. Thomas Slater also earned his first competitive senior appearance on the bench and Steven Scott made a return to the squad after being out with two separate injuries.
The game started perfectly for the away side. A good ball from John Scott and touch from Shea Gordon allowed him to tap past the Armagh City goalkeeper. This was already his second goal of the Mid-Ulster Cup campaign to put the Swifts ahead after just five minutes.
The Swifts continued to keep possession throughout the rest of the half, creating a number of half chances, whilst the defence remained resolute to keep Armagh at bay.
Shea Gordon’s goal was the difference at the break as the referee blew the half time whistle.
The second half continued the way the first half ended with the Swifts keeping the ball for prolonged periods, but the home side did well to prevent any further goals at this stage whilst also creating chances of their own.
The lead was doubled just before the hour mark. Andrew Mitchell grabbed his second goal of the season to give the visitors a two-goal cushion and put one foot in the next round.
Rodney McAree unleashed a triple substitution minutes later, and there was an impact shortly after as Corey Smith scored the Swifts’ third goal of the evening. It was also his first goal of the season, and his first Dungannon Swifts goal since April 2023.
The Swifts then saw the game out effectively, dealing with the pressure that Armagh put on them late in the second half in hopes of getting back into the game, and were helped by some important saves late on by Declan Dunne to secure a clean sheet.
Thomas Slater was introduced to the play during this time to make his competitive senior debut after signing his first professional contract just under one week ago. Steven Scott was also brought on to make his first competitive appearance March.
Following the game, Rodney McAree said: “It’s nice. It’s nice to have a semi final to look forward to. It’s nice to win a game of football. It’s nice to score three goals and it’s nice to keep a clean sheet. It’s great to see.
“I thought Shea Gordon playing higher up the pitch, gets the first goal, makes a good run and a good first touch. It’s a good ball from John Scott and then it’s nice to see Mitch score in the second half, Corey Smith scores also. I just felt in the first half we needed to be a little bit more advanced in terms of getting bodies higher up the pitch and asking a wee bit more questions of Armagh. We were a little bit stand-off, a little bit safe and once we got bodies higher, and bodies running beyond Armagh, I felt we caused problems especially at the start of the second half and thanks to Decky, he makes a couple of saves late on, and keeps a clean sheet and it’s nice to see him out between the sticks again even though I feel Alex has done really well.”
Up next for the Swifts is a trip to the seaside and Clandeboye Park to face Bangor in a league fixture.
Armagh City: Byrne (GK), Parker, O’Connor (Emmanuel 66’), Spain (C), Smyth (Keogh 77’), Adair, Conway (Halliday 77’), Doherty (Wilson 77’), Murray (Murphy 77’), Oladunjoye, Gorman.
Unused Substitutes: McElroy (GK), McCloskey.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), McGinty, J. Scott, Kelly, Smith, Mitchell (Glackin 61’), Dillon (S. Scott 61’), Glenny (McAllister 73’), Gordon (Slater 73’), Doyle (C) (Junior 61’), Johnston.
Unused Substitutes: Henderson (GK), Wallace.
Referee: Niall Devlin
by DSFC Media | October 11, 2026 | Match Report
Dungannon Swifts suffered a home defeat to Carrick Rangers after a game filled with attacking football, ending with six goals and a 4-2 win for the ‘Gers.
Rodney McAree named an unchanged side from last Saturdays 2-0 loss away to Glentoran.
Both teams started the game well, creating chances in the early stages. The visitors had a shot from Danny Gibson saved by Henderson, while Shea Gordon sent an effort over the bar for the Swifts after a good cross from Jamie Glackin.
The first goal came on just nine minutes. A ball over the top reached Paul Heatley, who tapped it over the approaching Alex Henderson and headed in to give Carrick Rangers a 1-0 lead.
However, the Swifts replied just three minutes later. A nice flick from Junior reached Jamie Glackin, who played Kealan Dillon through and he slotted in to level the score.
The ‘Gers thought they had regained the lead just a minute later after a Danny Gibson eader from a throw-in ended up in the net, only for the linesman to raise his flag.
On 20 minutes, Carrick did take the lead. A corner from the left was cleared only to Steele at the edge of the penalty area, whose cross met Joe Crowe and he tapped in to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage.
Both teams continued to pile the pressure on each other’s defences. Danny Gibson forced a great foot save from the Swifts goalkeeper, and Adam Glenny’s header from six yards out produced a great reaction block from Nathan Gartside.
After a series of half chances for both teams, Danny Gibson had the ball in the net for the second time in the game, but it was deja-vu for him as it was once again ruled offside.
On the stroke of half-time, the away side scored again. Ben Buchanan-Rolleston made a lightning run down the left and crossed in, with Swifts defender Danny Wallace turning the ball into his own net to give Carrick a 3-1 lead at the break.
The second half saw lots more attacking football, and there were great opportunities for both teams to score early on. Leo Alves was played through by Kealan Dillon, but his effort from the left hit the side netting. Minutes later, Paul Heatley’s volley smacked the crossbar.
Carrick got their fourth mid-way through the half. A long throw-in was flicked on to Danny Gibson who volleyed into the net from inside the six yards out.
The Swifts continued to put pressure on the Carrick Rangers defence with Adam Glenny and Sean McAllister getting shots on goal without any success. With 10 minutes to go, the referee awarded a penalty after Corey Smith was fouled, and McAllister slotted into the goal to give the Swifts some hope for the remainder of the game.
However, the Carrick defence managed to restrict the Swifts to minor chances and keep the score 4-2 until the final whistle.
Post-match, Rodney McAree said, “Probably the one of one of the worst results that we’ve had. Certainly defensively it was one of the worst performances we’ve had, it wasn’t good enough. We all have to take responsibility for that, we have to identify where Carrick was hurting us, especially in the first half. We were getting caught too high up the pitch and whenever we got caught too high up the pitch we gave the ball away needlessly. We give the ball away cheaply and with Paul Heatley and Danny Gibson, they’ve got two players whose pace can cause you problems and they certainly did that. But we certainly brought a lot of pressure on ourselves in terms of how we defended.
“I thought we had chances in the game. I thought we created plenty of chances. It’s a strange game where I thought we were really poor, but we could have scored six or seven, and on the flip side of that, Carrick could have scored ten or eleven, and that’s a wee bit concerning. We go in at half time and Carrick have scored three and had two goals disallowed as well, and it just felt as if every time on transition whenever they won the ball back, they were going to hurt us and
we didn’t identify that and we stepped into areas as defenders that we shouldn’t have been stepping in to and we left massive space behind us and we got punished.”
Dungannon Swifts: Henderson (GK), McKeown (Doyle 62’), Dillon, Alves, Glenny, Gordon (McGinty 46’), Glackin (Smith 68’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C) (Kelly 46’), Junior (Mitchell 68’), McAllister.
Unused Substitutes: McCloskey (GK), J. Scott.
Carrick Rangers: Gartside (GK), Nelson, Forsythe (O’Connor 72’), Callacher, Gibson, Lecky, Steele, Buchanan-Rolleston, Crowe (C) (Clucas 72’), Heatley, Snoddy.
Unused Substitutes: Agnew (GK), Maciulaitis, Moore, Hastings, Hawthorne.
Referee: Mark Dillon
by DSFC Media | October 4, 2026 | Match Report
It was a disappointing afternoon for Dungannon Swifts as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Glentoran, with the awarding of man of the match to Glens ‘keeper Andrew Mills reflecting the many chances the Swifts had to get on the scoreboard.
In his 300th game as Dungannon Swifts boss, Rodney McAree made one change from the draw against Ballymena United two weeks ago. Tiernan Kelly was replaced by Leo Alves.
The Swifts took to the field wearing a new third kit designed by two pupils at the club’s charity partner, Sperrinview Special School.
Rodney said: “That has made me very, very proud of the club that we are. We’re a family club who want to look out for people and want to do the right thing, and it’s fantastic for our players to see us wearing the Sperrinview shirts today.
“It was so proud to be able to put the kit on today and know that we’re trying to give something back, but that’s us as a club. That’s Dungannon Swifts. That’s what we really want.”
The Swifts started strongly, getting into good positions out wide and piling the pressure on the Glentoran defence with dangerous deliveries across the face of goal from Leo Alves, Sean McAllister and Adam Glenny but without clear scoring chances.
Glentoran threatened themselves, with Jordan Stewart’s pass reaching Jack Malone who squared it across to Ross Clarke, whose shot went wide.
Leo Alves then made another run down the left, and his low cross met Jamie Glackin, whose first time shot from close range was brilliantly saved by the hand of Mills in the Glentoran net.
For the second part of the first period, the Swifts continued to hold possession well and restrict Glentoran to chances that couldn’t test Henderson.
However, against the run of play, the deadlock was broken with five minutes to go in the half. Jordan Stewart twisted and turned before sending a cross into the box where James Singleton’s glancing header went over Alex Henderson to give the Glens a one goal advantage at half time.
The home side started as the better of the two teams in the second period, creating half chances and corners without troubling Henderson.
The Swifts had two glorious opportunities to equalise just after the hour mark. First, captain Gaël Bigirimana found himself with a yard of space just outside the area, but his flashing shot was saved by the fingertips of Andrew Mills to deny what looked like a certain goal.
The resulting corner was punched away by Mills, but only as far as Kealan Dillon, and his volley smacked off the post.
The visitors continued to pressurise Glentoran and bolstered their attacking options through substitutions as Andrew Mitchell and Corey Smith were introduced. Smith looked dangerous on occasions as he and Adam Glenny attacked Glentoran’s right hand side and Mitchell held the ball up well. However, as they searched for an equaliser, they couldn’t find the final ball to get past the Glentoran back-line.
It could have become 2-0 late on as a cross met Jordan Jenkins, but Adam Glenny was there to block on the line.
Deep into injury time, the Swifts earned a free kick to send in one last cross, but the danger was cleared, leaving a three on one where Jack Malone was played through and made it 2-0 with the last kick of the game and seal all three points for the home.
“I don’t think we deserve to get beat 2-0,” Rodney said.
“The second goal comes right at the death whenever we’re trying to get an equalizer. I thought in the first half we were excellent, we played some very good stuff and we concede a soft goal and go in one nil down whenever we have to show we bit more determination to put the ball in the opposition’s goal.
“Whenever we create the opportunities that we do or have the half chances that we do, we need to go up to the net because James Singleton gets a half chance for Glentoran off a cross ball and it ends up in the back of the net and we suffer for it.
“We took a little bit of time getting going in the second half, and then I thought we broke a few times and we showed a good level of play in terms of getting higher up the pitch and we got to do more then whenever we get there as well.
“Andrew Mills has pulled off a wonder save from Bigi and then we’ve hit the post shortly after that as well. Listen, in another day, we should be leaving here with something, we definitely deserve to leave with something, and it’s frustrating that we didn’t.
“In the first half we were excellent. Junes has a good opportunity which unfortunately goes straight at Andrew Mills. Jamie Glackin has one which gets across the near post. Sean McAllister flashes one across the six yard box. We got ball good ball into the area and we’ve got to capitalise and I’m frustrated, really, really frustrated that we don’t get anything out of today’s game.”
The Swifts return to Stangmore Park next Saturday to face Carrick Rangers with a 15:00 kick off.
Glentoran: Mills (GK), Cooney, Clarke (McMenamin 58’), Stewart (Daniels 66’), Sloggett, Brown, Larmour, Singleton (C) (O’Rourke 46’), Malone, Jenkins, Douglas (Kelly 78’).
Unused Substitutes: Crellin (GK), Gallagher, Rogers-Duffy.
Dungannon Swifts: Henderson (GK), McKeown (McGinty 78’), Dillon, Alves, Glenny, Gordon, Glackin (Kelly 64’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C), Junior (Mitchell 62’), McAllister (Smith 62’).
Unused Substitutes: McCloskey (GK), J. Scott, Johnston.
Referee: Tim Marshall
by DSFC Media | September 20, 2026 | Match Report
The Swifts were forced to settle for a point against ten-man Ballymena United despite numerous chances to gain all three in the second half.
There were four changes in Rodney McAree’s team which was defeated 3-0 by Crusaders mid-week, with Alex Henderson replacing the suspended Declan Dunne and Adam Glenny, Shea Gordon and Kealan Dillon coming in for John Scott, Kris Lowe and Leo Alves.
The visitors began the game the stronger of the two sides, threatening the Swifts back-line on a number of occasions without creating any clear-cut chances.
However, this would change in the 17th minute. After some neat play, Caoimhin McConnell had space in the box to release a shot, which Alex Henderson saved excellently to prevent the ball from reaching the net. The resulting corner was headed by Chris McKee, and was saved again by Henderson.
The opening goal was scored seven minutes later. James Hood’s chase for the ball against Barney McKeown was successful, and his cross met a wide open Igor Rutkowski in the six-yard box, who chested the ball in to give Ballymena United the lead.
The game would then take a dramatic turn soon after. Striker Junior attempted to get onto a long ball from Alex Henderson, but his shirt was pulled by Scot Whiteside, which the referee deemed as a last man tackle, showing a red card to the defender.
This sparked the Swifts into life. They created a superb chance just before the half when Jamie Glackin laid the ball off to Tiernan Kelly, and his shot from 25 yards out was saved in the top corner by the fingertips of David Walsh to deny what looked like a certain goal.
However, the Swifts’ equaliser came from the corner after the Walsh save. Kealan Dillon’s ball met Junior’s head, and after a scamble, Danny Wallace poked home and celebrated for his new baby.
The Swifts started the second half the way they ended the first. Junior had a great opportunity early on when he met Corey Smith’s cross, but his header went over the bar.
Despite conceding almost all of the chances and possession, the ten men of Ballymena United remained resolute. David Walsh made another stunning save from Andrew Mitchell’s header, which he did well to tip over the crossbar.
In the time between this, both teams created half chances. Kealan Dillon had a couple of opportunities from outside the box that were blocked by the Ballymena United defenders, and Sean McAllister had a good opportunity which he wasn’t able to keep on target.
Substitute Finlay Thorndike had a free kick into the hands of Henderson and McCallion’s flick from a corner went just wide for the visitors.
After a chance when Barney McKeown’s long shot went just over, the Swifts came their closest yet to grabbing an equaliser when Sean McAllister’s deflected shot smacked off the upright.
In the dying moments of the game, the Swifts had one last chance to equalise with a corner. It was taken by Kealan Dillon and somehow evaded everyone in the box and went out for a goal kick.
This was the last event in the game, with referee Michael McKenna blowing his final whistle with the score at 1-1.
Post-match, Rodney McAree said: “Whenever it was 11v11, and we come out of it with a point, I’m probably happy because I thought at 11v11 we were atrocious. We started the game very, very poorly, we couldn’t get going.
“Ballymena put us under a lot of pressure and looked in complete control and then the sending off comes and gives us a little bit of a lifeline and we go in at half time one each through Danny reacting to the second, third ball, whatever it was in the box, and gives us a little bit of a lifeline and obviously playing against 10 men at that time, it’s about doing things quickly, it’s about keeping the ball moving, be patient and take our opportunities whenever they come along and unfortunately we haven’t done that.
“We haven’t taken our opportunities we did create. We weren’t good. It was too many below par performances today, and that has to improve and that has to be better, but we still created opportunities where we could have won the game.
“I think it might have been harsh on Ballymena if we had have to be honest even though we did create those opportunities, I thought they dug in and fought for each other and stayed in the game well, but just we didn’t show that real hunger and desire to go and actually kill the game.
“I thought we were a little bit lethargic. I thought we were a wee bit off it. I thought we were we bit off the pace of the game. I thought whenever we even got going, we asked the players to go and press Ballymena, but we were slow in our reaction, we didn’t go and press them with any real urgency, we were always a split second behind, and then second half probably whenever Ballymena sit in the way they are we have to move it quickly and as I say we have to be more patient, we have to do things better but I thought we got joy down the right hand side with Kris Lowe. I thought he was excellent whenever he came on at half-time. We got a little bit of joy out of Corey in the left hand side, but we have opportunities where in another day you probably go and score one of them, we just have to try and and force the ball over the line at times and be that little bit more hungry to actually go and be the person.”
The Swifts have no game for next week after the scheduled game against Larne was postponed, so their next fixture is an away game against Glentoran in two weeks time.
Dungannon Swifts: Henderson (GK), McKeown, Kelly (Smith 46’), Dillion, Glenny, Gordon (Lowe 46’), Glackin (Mitchell 72’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C), Junior, McAllister.
Unused Substitutes: McCloskey (GK), McGinty, J. Scott, Johnston.
Ballymena United: Walsh (GK), Toure, Glynn (Leeth 46’), Whiteside, Sule (C), McKee (Thorndike 46’), Archer (Murray 80’), Rutowski, Hood (McCallion 30’), McConnell (Fallon 85’), Lyons-Foster.
Unused Substitutes: Breen (GK), McEleney.
by DSFC Media | September 16, 2026 | Match Report
The Swifts fell to defeat at Seaview on Tuesday night after three goals followed Declan Dunne’s game-changing dismissal mid-way through the second half.
Rodney McAree had made three changes from his team which started in the 1-0 loss to Linfield on Saturday. Kris Lowe, Leo Alves and Gaël Bigirimana, who returned to captaincy, replaced Shea Gordon, Kealan Dillon and Paul Doyle.
The game began in lively fashion, with both teams looking to create chances and get an early goal.
Crusaders created the first big opportunity. Owen Wardell made a dashing run down the right wing after receiving the ball from Shea Callister in goal, and after cutting in, his shot hit the side netting.
Just minutes later, Declan Dunne was called into action for the first time. Wardell made another run down the right, getting past Tiernan Kelly on this his 50th Dungannon Swifts appearance, and his cross ricocheted off a blue shirt to Dunlop, whose shot was saved well by the feet of the big goalkeeper.
The Swifts kept possession well in the early stages and had two similar chances as a reward. Both Barney McKeown and Sean McAllister created space on the right, but their shots were blocked by the Crusaders defence.
The home side saw a shot go just wide after a short pass from a corner, but three openings for the visitors followed.
First, a nice ball from McKeown was flicked on to John Scott by Junior, and his cross just went over the bar. A Leo Alves corner was then punched away by the Crusaders goalkeeper, and a long ball in from Kris Lowe was inches away from meeting the head of Junior and instead drifted out for a goal kick.
The second half started the way the first ended with a flurry of chances and attacking football.
Crusaders started with a couple of corners, but the Swifts had a glorious opportunity to go one goal up on 48 minutes. Leo Alves’ inch-perfect delivery reached an open Gaël Bigirimana, but he couldn’t keep his header from six yards under the crossbar.
The Crusaders goalkeeper made a great save soon after. Barney McKeown’s interception ended up at Alves’ feet, and his shot from distance was saved in the bottom corner. Minutes later, he had another shot which dragged past the post.
The big turning point came in the 65th minute. A ball over the top saw Dunne come out of his box, but the contact made with Owen Wardell after connecting with the ball was deemed a sending off and the Swifts were down to ten men in controversial style.
The opening goal came with 15 minutes to go. The Crues played a short corner and the resulting cross found captain Robbie Weir, who headed towards the far post and into the net.
Gaël Bigirimana took a free kick earned by Junior, but his effort went just past the top corner.
Crusaders then doubled their lead. Elliot Dunlop’s cross met Scott Rough at the back post, and he scored Crusaders’ second header and goal of the night.
After a series of half chances by both teams, Crusaders added to their goal tally with the last kick of the game. A number of defensive errors left substitute Lloyd Anderson with just McKeown to beat and the ball hit the empty net to end the game.
Afterwards, Rodney McAree said: “I thought in the first half we could have been better. We were a little bit wasteful in possession. We had a lot of ball, Crusaders started very lively, broke a few times and looked dangerous, but we got to grips with that and I thought we were comfortable in terms of we had plenty of ball, but we were wasteful in the first half and we addressed that at half-time and we changed our shape slightly at half-time. We encouraged the players to be a little bit braver, a little bit more patient, concentrate a little bit more on and get the basics right first and foremost. We put a little bit more width in our team at the start of the second half and everything that we asked them to do, they went out and they delivered, and were fantastic. I can’t fault their effort, can’t fault their desire, the commitment.
“They’re hurting in there. They’re a great bunch, and the sending off comes at a time whenever we’re well in control of the game. It’s a diagonal ball and if our goalkeeper doesn’t do what he’s has done, we point the finger at Decky in terms of not doing his job. Decky has come as a sweeper and identified a danger and he swept up. He hasn’t collided with anybody, hasn’t touched anybody and has kicked it out for a throw in, but the referee deemed it as a as a foul and Decky ends up getting sent off and the game changes massively in that.
“The one thing that disappointed me after that was that you try to be you try to be very very compact, very tight in terms of your 4-4-1 as we played at that stage and don’t get played through, don’t get broke down, and we did that, but we conceded from two set pieces. Whenever you’re down a man, if we can free somebody else up so that everybody in the opposition is being picked up, everybody has their role, everybody has a responsibility, and unfortunately Robbie Weir breaks free for the first one and scores and and the big lad Rough scores the second. We’re not strong enough for it either and that’s disappointing. The third goal is an absolute calamity of ours, it’s not good. It happens, but it’s not good, and to concede the first two from set pieces is disappointing too.”
Up next for the Swifts is a return to Stangmore Park on Saturday where they will face Ballymena United at 15:00.
Crusaders: Callister (GK) Forsythe, Rough, Weir (C), Jewitt-White, Dunlop, Doherty (Anderson 72’), Wardell, Reid (Maguire 75’), McKay, Barr.
Unused Substitutes: Brown (GK), Blayney, Bond, Mulholland, Beattie.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), J. Scott (Dillon 84’), McKeown, Kelly (Gordon 79’), Alves (Henderson (GK) 68’), Lowe, Glackin (Smith 79’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C), Junior (Mitchell 84’), McAllister.
Unused Substitutes: McGinty, Glenny.
by DSFC Media | September 13, 2026 | Match Report
Dungannon Swifts were defeated 1-0 by Linfield following a superb Kyle McClean strike with ten minutes to go in a hard-fought and tight encounter at Stangmore Park.
Rodney McAree’s team had three changes from last Saturdays 2-0 away victory over Limavady United. Cahal McGinty, Leo Alves and Gaël Bigirimana were replaced by Danny Wallace, Jamie Glackin and Tiernan Kelly, with Paul Doyle taking the captain’s armband.
The teams largely cancelled each other out in the opening stages of the game, but within a minute of each other, the Swifts had two glorious opportunities to open the scoring.
First, after some good build up play, Jamie Glackin played a through ball to Junior, who took the ball around the goalkeeper, only for his effort to be cleared off the line by Issac Baird, denying what looked to be a certain goal.
Sean McAllister had a shot from a similar area soon after, but it was well stopped by Johns in the Linfield goal this time.
The home side came extremely close once again on nineteen minutes. A free kick on the right side of the pitch was cleared out for a Dungannon Swifts corner. The delivery ended at the feet of Junior, but his shot hit both the post and the Linfield goalkeeper and the game somehow remained goalless.
After this, Linfield grew into the game more as they created some half-chances, but the Swifts were again inches away from taking the lead just after the half-hour mark. A loose cross from the right fell to Junior, who made a pass which Jamie Glackin cleverly left for Paul Doyle, but his shot was very impressively saved by Chris Johns in the top left corner.
Just before half time, Linfield also came close to scoring on two occasions. First, Adam Frizzell’s corner to the back post found Issac Baird, whose header went over the bar. In stoppage time, Kirk Millar’s free kick then sailed past everyone in the box and stuck the post, whilst Kobei Moore’s acrobatic effort from the rebound was gathered up and cleared by the home side.
The Blues started the second half the way they left off the first, creating the first big chance. Dane McCullough’s cross found Kyle McClean in the box, but his first-time effort went wide of the post.
There were two chances at either end after this. The ball was played past John Scott first, leaving room for Rhys Brennan to cross. His low delivery found the feet of substitute Kieran Offord, and after taking it past McKeown, his shot was exceptionally saved by Declan Dunne from point blank range.
The Swifts broke from this, leaving the ball with Sean McAllister. The winger managed to get past the Linfield defender, and penalty shouts followed after he appeared to be tripped. The referee deemed McAllister to have dived and booked him.
The all-important goal came shortly after. Dylan Wells dribbled down the wing before passing to Kyle McClean just inside the box. The Linfield number eight curled a great effort right into the far top corner, leaving Dunne with no chance and giving the away side the lead.
The Swifts just couldn’t find a way through the resolute Linfield back-line in the remaining time, with Louise Thompson blowing her whistle after to signal a 1-0 defeat.
After the game, Rodney McAree said: “Whenever you get opportunities, particularly against the full-time teams, you have to take them. If you don’t take them, ultimately they’ll end up coming back and biting you and that’s exactly what has happened today.
“We played some good stuff in the first half, and created some good opportunities. Chris Johns makes a few good saves and you’re very pleased, but the only thing that is missing at half-time is a goal or two.
“When we came out in the second half I don’t think we showed the same calmness. We don’t show the same composure, we give the ball away and we invite pressure on us.
“Decky makes a fantastic save and Adam Frizzell has a a shot just wide of the post, but outside of that I didn’t overly feel as if we were massively under pressure and it’s a fantastic strike from Kyle McClean that ultimately won it.
“But looking at the goal as well, I think we can restrict the space whenever he receives the ball, we can close that space down, we can make it a wee bit more difficult for him, and we haven’t done that, so we have to live and learn and and move on.”
Up next for the Swifts is an away game at Seaview against Crusaders on Tuesday night with a 19:45 kick off.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), J. Scott, McKeown, Kelly, Dillon, Gordon (Lowe 85’), Glackin (Smith 85’), Doyle (C) (McGinty 90+1’), Wallace, Junior (Mitchell 77’), McAllister (Alves 77’).
Unused Substitutes: Henderson (GK), Johnston.
Linfield: Johns (GK), Shields (C), Millar (Wells 48’), McClean, Frizzell, Nelson (Brennan 65’), Hall, Baird, McGee, Moore (Offord 65’), McCullough.
Unused Substitutes: Glavin (GK), Brown, Annett, Chapman.
Referee: Louise Thompson
