With Coleraine and Linfield having seen their Irish Premiership title hopes fade because of disappointing results in recent weeks, it seems likely that the cup competitions offer up the best opportunity of silverware for the clubs this season.

The two teams will contest BetMcLean Cup semi-finals later this month – Coleraine facing Glentoran and Linfield playing Ballymena United – while both have been handed testing ties for their first outings in the Irish Cup.

Coleraine host Crusaders in the opening fixture of the weekend in a match which will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and on the BBC Sport website on Friday night.

The Bannsiders will target a first Irish Cup victory since 2018 and aim to secure some tangible reward for the substantial financial investment in the club.

Crusaders were consecutive Irish Cup winners in 2022 and 2023 and while retaining their top flight status will be their priority, they will hope that a good run in the cup could continue to build the momentum established by their recent sequence of two wins and a draw from their past three league matches.

Linfield, meanwhile, host another of last year’s semi-finalists, Bangor, in a repeat of last week’s league match between the sides, which saw the Premiership champions run out comfortable 6-1 winners.

The Seasiders accounted for Glentoran in the last eight last season. Could they claim another ‘Big Two’ scalp in one of four all-Premiership encounters?