Danny Amos was the hero of the day, as his fantastic strike was enough to see off Portadown 1-0 at Shamrock Park and give Glentoran three points and the best possible start to the new Sports Direct Premiership campaign.
Under glorious sunshine in Co Armagh, it was far from a walk in the park for the east Belfast club, and early on they found themselves under pressure from the Ports.
With just six minutes on the clock, James Teelan played an intelligent pass for Eamon Fyfe to have the first attempt at goal of the game, but his first-time effort zipped across the face of goal and away to safety.
The home team could have taken the lead again soon after when they hit the Glens on the counter-attack, but Fyfe took the shot on and blazed over the crossbar when it looked easier to square to Josh Ukek or Ahu Obhkhan, who were waiting for the cut-back.
Having made two fortunate escapes, Glentoran grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and took the lead against the run of play just three minutes before the interval.
Jordan Jenkins delivered a looped ball to the back post where Amos arrived with perfect timing to smash home a volley and send the away support into wonderland.
Declan Devine’s half-time talk appeared to spur the team on and they almost doubled their advantage just after the break.
Liam Burt connected with a half-volley that wrong-footed Ports’ goalkeeper Aaron McCarey, but the assistant flagged for offside to leave the score at 1-0.
The hosts had similar frustration just after the hour mark, when Ukek poked home Steven McCullough's free-kick before again seeing the assistant's flag raised, as the Glens held on for the best possible start to the new season.
Next up for Devine’s men is newly-promoted Bangor, who travel to the Oval next Saturday.
Glentoran: Mills, Cooney, Kelly, Stewart, Coll, McEleney, Fisher, Larmour, Amos, Singleton (C), Jenkins.
Subs: Urminsky, Ferris, Burt, Lindsay, Russell, Wightman, Douglas.
