Swifts bounce back from Irish Cup heartache to reach play-off semi-final

Irish Premiership

Dungannon Swifts 3 - 1 Carrick Rangers FT

Dungannon Swifts bounced back from Irish Cup final heartache to book their place in the European play-off semi-final with a convincing victory over 10-man Carrick Rangers at Stangmore Park.

Rodney McAree's side will now face Cliftonville at Solitude on Saturday evening (18:00 BST), with a decider against Linfield awaiting the winner at Windsor Park on Tuesday night.

Impressive strikes from Leo Alves and Caolan Marron either side of a Nathan Gartside red card and Luke McCullough equaliser for the visitors put the Swifts in control with Kealan Dillon wrapping up a fairly comfortable victory under the lights for the home side.

The Swifts suffered an early blow when captain Danny Wallace was forced off following a challenge with Adam Lecky, with Peter Maguire stepping into defence after 10 minutes.

The hosts hit the front on 21 minutes thanks to a stunning free-kick from Alves. The Swifts midfielder gave Gartside no chance as he found the net just inside the far post with his left foot after Andrew Mitchell had been brought down by McCullough.

Carrick's evening went from bad to worse in the 32nd minute as keeper Gartside was dismissed after the ball struck his arm outside the area and referee Shane Andrews had no option but to send him off.

Despite being down to 10 men, the visitors responded almost instantly as captain McCullough bundled home from inside the six-yard box following Adam Lecky's flick on from a Paul Heatley free-kick.

The second half was only three minutes old when the Swifts restored their advantage as Marron found the top right-hand corner with a sizzling effort from 25 yards leaving substitute goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly absolutely no chance.

Stephen Baxter's side did their best to fight back and find an equaliser, but instead fell two goals behind with 20 minutes left on the clock as Dillon fired past Donnelly with a pinpoint first-time strike following a perfectly threaded pass from Tiernan Kelly through the visitors' spine.

Having missed out on a second successive Irish Cup triumph with a 3-2 loss to Coleraine, Dungannon still have hope of securing European football, while Carrick's season comes to an end.