Ben Gallagher has the first chance of the game from a route one ball from goalkeeper Declan Dunne.

He sends those behind the goal ducking though as he lashes a volley wide.

Ballymena manager Jim Ervin signalling his intent right from the off, going with two up front.

Johnny McMurray, on his way back from a lengthy injury, is paired with Isaac Westendorf.

The Coleraine defence will know they’ve been in a game this afternoon.

Gary Boyle's men have the first corner of the game, but Georgie Poynton's curling delivery is palmed away by the alert Rory Brown.

Jordan Forsythe has the first opportunity to get the ball into the Cliftonville penalty area, but David Odumosu easily gathers the midfielder's in-swinging cross.

Adam Carroll gets the action underway in Newry!

It's been 409 days since the home side won a league game at the Newry Showgrounds. Will they change this stat today or will the wait continue?

‘There’s nothing like a Boxing Day derby’ announces the Ballymena United matchday announcer.

Let’s hope he's right.

Coleraine’s Andy Scott gets us underway at the Showgrounds.

Ben Wilson gets the action underway.

This fixture has produced 34 goals in the last 10 meetings, meaning we should be in for a treat at Solitude.

The visitors kick off playing from right to left on referee Evan Boyce's whistle.

We're underway at Windsor Park for this Boxing Day Big Two derby.

Niall McGinn kicks proceedings off for the visitors.

What an atmosphere!

Today at the Newry Showgrounds, the home side name a much changed starting XI compared to the line-up were defeated by Carrick Rangers.

In a total of five changes, Darren King returns and is captain this afternoon with Adam Carroll, Andrew Martin, Donal Scullion and Paul McGovern all starting.

They replace the suspended Ryan McGivern and injured Barney McKeown with Noel Healy, Adam Salley and Stephen Moan dropping to the bench.

As for Stephen McDonnell, he makes three switches to the line-up who lost 3-1 against Crusaders on Saturday with Conor Kerr, Matthew Snoddy and Jamie McDonagh replacing Aaron Prendergast and Tiarnan Mulvenna, who are amongst the substitutes, and Jack Malone, who is not in today's squad.

Newry City: Maguire, King, Carroll, Lockhart, McGovern, Bagnall, Martin, Forde, Scullion, Poynton, McGovern.

Subs: Healy, O'Connor, Salley, Moan, Healy, Mooney, Owens.

Glenavon: Brown, Kerr, Birney, Snoddy, Campbell, Quinn, Baird, McCloskey, Wallace, McDonagh, Ward.

Subs: Purvis, Prendergast, Teggart, Mulvenna, Henderson, Shiel.

Image source, BBC Sport

Former Northern Ireland international team-mates David Healy and Warren Feeney take charge of Linfield and Glentoran respectively in this afternoon's big Belfast Boxing Day derby at Windsor Park.

Healy will be on the sidelines but Feeney must watch the game from the stands as he is suspended after receiving a yellow card in Saturday's top flight game against Dungannon Swifts.

Image source, BBC Sport

Good afternoon from Lakeview Park where ninth host tenth.

Loughgall fought manfully at Inver Park on Friday night but, ultimately fell 1-0, extending their winless league run to eight.

They sit one place and four points ahead of today's visitors Dungannon, who suffered a double blow on Saturday.

Not only did Rodney McAree's charges concede late to lose 2-1 to his former side Glentoran but they also lost their top scorer Matty Lusty to a potentially serious injury.

This is the third time time these pair have met this season with the away side winning 2-1 on both previous occasions. Lusty got both for Dungannon when they came here just over a month ago, while the Villagers won at Stangmore in the second game of the season back in August.

Dean Smith makes three changes from the defeat to Larne as Oran Brogan, Nathaniel Ferris and Robbie Norton drop to the bench with Tiernan Kelly, Pablo Andrade and Alan Teggart replacing them.

The visitors make two changes, both enforced. As well as the injured Lusty, Caolan Marron was sent off on Saturday with Steven Scott and Cahal McGinty their replacements. Chris Hegarty returns to their squad for the first time since October 21 and he is among the subs.

Loughgall: Turker, Carson, Rea, Murdock, Kelly, Andrade, Teggart, Hoey, Patton, Magee, Loughran.

Subs: Devine, Brogan, Ferris, Norton, Gibson, Balde, Boyd.

Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, McGee, J. Scott, Curry, Dillon, S. Scott, Glenny, Gallagher, McGinty, Alves, Bigirimana.

Subs: Mitchell, C. Hegarty, Knowles, Moore, Hutchinson, A. Hegarty, Galvin.

Image source, BBC Sport

Simon Hanna's extra-time winner secured a 3-2 Steel and Sons Cup victory for Comber Rec. over Crumlin Star at Seaview on Christmas Day.

Image source, pacemaker

Carrick haven't beaten Larne in 14 previous Premiership meetings, with Larne winning 10 and drawing four of those encounters.

One of those draws came in the corresponding fixture last year when the two sides thrashed out a scoreless draw at Inver Park.

Carrick make one change from their 1-0 win at Newry with Nedas Maciulaitis suspended after picking up his fifth booking in that game, in which Carrick's Emmet McGuckin was sent sent off after coming on as a substutute.

Defender Benjamin Buchanan-Rolleston comes into Stuart King's line-up.

Larne are unchanged from the side which beat Loughgall last weekend.

Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Forsythe, Stewart, Watson, Buchanan-Rolleston, Tilney, Gordon, Crowe, Cushley, Allen, Purkis.

Subs: McCauley, Surgenor, Mitchell, Montgomery, Andrews, Withers, Reece Glendinning.

Larne: Ferguson, Cosgrove, Farquhar, Donnelly, Ives, Graham, Orozco, Thomson, Millar, Bonis, Ryan.

Subs: Dowling, Randall, O'Neill, Lloyd, Gordon, Glynn, McCart.

Image source, BBC Sport

A first-half Joe Thomson goal gave Larne a 1-0 win over Loughgall at Inver Park on Friday night to keep the holders within a point of Linfield at the top of the Irish Premiership table.

Christmas may be over, but the real “big day” over the festive period for Irish league fans is here, and they don’t come much bigger than a north Belfast derby.

Jim Magilton names an unchanged side for a fourth game in a row, and you can understand why with Cliftonville on an unbeaten run that stretches seven games, with the hosts picking up six victories in that time.

The visitors have had the better of this fixture over the last decade, but Stephen Baxter will be concerned with his side's form this season against the top six, with just one win in nine attempts, including five defeats, two of which have come at the hands of the Reds.

Adam Lecky, Paul Heatley, and Jude Winchester are all missing for the Shore Road outfit, with Billy-Joe Burns, Mal Smith and Jordan Owens, fresh off his 250th goal for the club, drafted in as their replacements.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Addis, Gallagher, Rory Hale, Mallon, Doherty, Casey, Turner, Ronan Hale, Kearney, Wilson.

Subs: Gartside, Pepper, Stewart, Curran, Gormley, Ashford, McGuiness.

Crusaders: Tuffey, Burns, Weir, Forsythe, O’Rourke, Owens, Larmour, Smith, Robinson, Clarke, Anderson.

Subs: Williamson, Kennedy, Teelan, Maguire, McKenna, James, Bond.

Image source, BBC Sport

Watch highlights from Saturday as Crusaders striker Jordan Owens scores his 250th goal for the club as the north Belfast side see off Glenavon 3-1 at Mourneview Park.

Both Linfield and Glentoran have sold out their full allocations at Windsor Park, with over 10,000 fans expected for this afternoon's Christmas cracker.

The famous Boxing Day fixture between the Blues and the Glens has been far more favourable to the south Belfast side over the years.

Glentoran have never won at Windsor Park on Boxing Day in their history, with their last victory in the Christmas tie four years ago at the Oval.

That being said, the east Belfast side did win the last Big Two derby earlier this month 4-0.

Linfield are the current pacesetters in the Irish Premiership, with their noisy neighbours hoping to knock them off their perch this afternoon.

The hosts make two changes with Jamie Mulgrew and Joel Cooper replacing Josh Archer and Aodhan Doherty for David Healy's side. Chris McKee also returns from injury to make the bench.

Meanwhile Glens boss Warren Feeney also makes just one alteration to his starting XI. In comes Luke McCullough for Marcus Kane at the back.

Linfield: Johns, Finlayson, East, Millar, McClean, Cooper, Hall, Clarke, Mulgrew, Fitzpatrick, Annett.

Subs: Walsh, Newberry, McBrien, McKee, Archer, Doherty, Graham.

Glentoran: McCarey, McCullough, Burns, McCartan, O'Connor, Sule, Fisher, McClean, Russell, Wightman, McGinn.

Subs: Webber, Kane, R,Donnelly, Murray, Kelly, Junior, Feeney.

Image source, BBC Sport

Watch highlights of Linfield's 2-1 win over Coleraine at Windsor Park on Friday night, a victory that saw the Blues retain their one point lead over Larne at the top of the table, with one game in hand.

A third league meeting of the season at the Warden Street Showgrounds between two teams desperately seeking some festive cheer.

Ballymena haven’t won in the league since a 3-1 victory over their derby rivals here on 21 October and, indeed, haven’t scored a goal in their past seven outings.

Coleraine are marginally better, one win in their last five coming against Loughgall earlier in the month.

Sky Blues manager Jim Ervin makes one change to the side which went down 2-0 in their last outing, Dylan Boyle coming in for TJ Murray who drops to the bench.

Bannsiders boss Oran Kearney also makes just the one change to the team which lost 2-1 at Linfield on Friday night as the experienced Andrew Mitchell replaces 17-year-old Ciaran O’Hara in attack.

Both teams have a win apiece in the ‘A26’ derby to date - who will claim the all important bragging rights this afternoon?

Ballymena United: O’Neill, Nelson, Whiteside (c), McCullough, F. Taylor, McGrory, McMurray, Boyle, Place, McAuley, Westendorf.

Subs: Johnston, Waide, O’Boyle, Murray, Crawford, D. Taylor, Stewart.

Coleraine: Deane, Kane (c), D. Jarvis, A. Jarvis, McKendry, Farren, Glackin, Cole, O’Mahony, Mitchell, Scott.

Subs: Gallagher, Lowry, McCrudden, McLaughlin, Devine, Gaston, O’Hara.

Image source, BBC Sport