Irish Premiership: Joel Cooper strikes as Linfield and Glenavon win
After a quiet opening 20 minutes at Stangmore Park, James Knowles came close to breaking the deadlock when his free-kick curled just over the crossbar.
Linfield goalkeeper David Walsh was then called into action to make a low save to deny Leo Alves.
In the 34th minute the away side were claiming for a penalty after Gael Bigirimana brought down Matthew Fitzpatrick just inside the box, but referee Declan Hassan waved away their appeals.
Shortly after, Dunne did well to palm away Cooper’s strike from range and Jamie Mulgrew was unable to fire home the rebound.
The deadlock was broken in the 53rd minute when Cooper travelled forward and sent a low strike into the bottom left-hand corner from the edge of the box.
Linfield came close to grabbing a quick second when Mulgrew’s cross wasn’t cleared by the Dungannon defence which gave Kirk Millar time to control the ball and send a strong strike towards goal, which made Dunne produce an impressive reaction save.
At the other end Knowles sent a well-timed cross into the box for McGovern, whose resulting header from point-blank range was straight at Linfield stopper Walsh.
Knowles continued to be central to Dungannon’s attacks and the midfielder’s free-kick crashed off the left-hand post as McAree’s side continued to push for a leveller.
The home side’s stopper Dunne was then shown a straight red card in the 87th minute for handling the ball outside the box when trying to thwart Fitzpatrick’s chance when he was through on goal.
