Marcus Kane derby hero for 10-man Glentoran over Linfield

​But they did it the hard way because Declan Devine’s men had to play out the final 30 minutes with only 10 men after teenage midfielder James Douglas was sent off after picking up two yellow cards.

It was the east Belfast team's second win over Linfield in seven weeks – with a backs-to-the-wall display once Douglas walked.

Devine handed Douglas and James Singleton starting slots in place of Finley Thorndike and Cammy Palmer. Following his team’s win at Larne last time out, Healy nominated the same starting 11.

It was Glentoran who had the first sniff at goal after only four minutes. Dylan Connolly threaded a pass from the left to Jay Donnelly, only to see his shot pawed to safety by David Walsh.

Linfield hit back and only for a magical save by Daniel Gyollai, they would have been in front on 23 minutes.

Midfielder Cammy Ballantyne picked out the unmarked Joel Cooper on the edge of the box and his raking low drive was arrowing into the bottom corner - until the big Hungarian got a glove to the effort.

It was a brilliant save.

The Glens came roaring back with Douglas showing great feet on the edge of the box before finding Singleton, whose blistering drive was blocked by the body of Scot Whiteside.

As the clocked ticked down to half-time, the Glens had another half-chance when Daniel Amos sent in a great cross from the left that was expertly laid off by Connolly for Donnelly.

But Mulgrew threw is body on the line to block.

The danger still wasn’t away.

When Amos sent over a corner-kick from the right, Blues goalkeeper Walsh got a telling punch.

But the ball rebounded off the boot of Dane McCullough for Kane, who rammed home from only a couple of yards.

When the teams emerged for the second half, it was the Blues who asked all the questions.

With Joel Cooper firing a free-kick into the defensive wall after Matthew Fitzpatrick was fouled by Kane.

The home crowd were then incensed when referee Tim Marshall produced the second yellow card of the night for young Douglas, deemed to have gone in high on Blues skipper Mulgrew.

Linfield piled on the pressure after that with McCullough picking up a pass from Fitzpatrick, only to ram his shot against the legs of Gyollai.

They almost got an equaliser on 68 minutes when Connolly flattened Chris Shields just outside the penalty box and Kirk Millar’s shot arrowed agonisingly inches past the post.

The Blues had a big shout for a spot-kick on 75 minutes when Cooper appeared to be wrestled to the ground by Kane, but referee Marshall wasn’t interested and waved play on.

They had another decent chance three minutes later when Millar’s corner-kick fell for Josh Archer.

But Archer’s effort blazed over the top.

Then Gyollai had to produce another top-class save to flick over a Whiteside header from an Ethan McGee cross.