IRISH CUP: Derby delight as holders Glenavon smash five past Portadown

The Ports attacked from the first whistle and created three clearcut sights of goal without success inside the initial six minutes.

Robert Garrett’s long-range drive was blocked on the line by Rhys Marshall before a looping header from Adam Foley narrowly cleared the crossbar then Marcio Soares just failed to connect to a ball over the top

Soares and Guy Bates both had goals ruled out by flags from the sidelines, with the latter also blasting wide of the mark from a promising position.

A foul on James Singleton inside the box resulted in Greg Moorhouse stepping up for a penalty kick but Jack Duffin produced a superb stop with his legs.

Ciaran Martyn found space on two occasions in quick succession, with one sidefoot shot bouncing off the underside of the bar but the second breaking the deadlock from a similar position.

Duffin pulled off saves to frustrate Bates and Joel Cooper early in the second half but Glenavon cemented control of the tie on the hour mark.

Cooper capped a livewire performance by dancing around the Ports defence and feeding the ball between the legs of Duffin.

Cooper then doubled his tally for the afternoon by racing in to convert a drilled cross from Bates.

Mark Sykes joined play as a substitute and made his mark with an assist for James Singleton to force in the loose ball at the back post.

Sykes then closed out the scoring with Glenavon’s fifth goal thanks to a Cooper cross and angled header.

PORTADOWN: Jack Duffin, Mark Carson, Brendan Shannon, Ross Larkin, Matthew Hazley, Adam Foley, Robert Garrett, Niall Henderson, Shea McGerrigan, Sean Mackle, Marcio Soares. Subs: Tiarnan Mulvenna, Shane Dolan (Mackle, 64), Jordan Lyttle, Jaime Gardiner (Foley, 67), Jackson Holmes (Carson, 74).

GLENAVON: Jonny Tuffey, Aaron Canning, Rhys Marshall, Joel Cooper, Andy Hall, Caolan Marron, Greg Moorhouse, Ciaran Martyn, David Elebert, James Singleton, Guy Bates. Subs: Gary Hamilton (Moorhouse, 74), Kyle Neill, Andy Kilmartin, Mark Sykes (Hall, 65), James Gray.

Referee: Raymond Crangle.