Ryan Cooney says Glentoran have to keep the pressure on in the Irish Premiership title race when they host Dungannon Swifts at the BetMcLean Oval on Saturday (Kick-off 3pm).

The Glens kept their hopes of securing the Gibson Cup for the first time since 2009 alive thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over Cliftonville on Tuesday night.

That result at Solitude coupled with a 4-1 defeat for league leaders Larne cut the deficit at the summit to three points, but Cooney knows Glentoran have to keep pushing in these final three games to see where it takes them.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance now following the results on Tuesday night, but we know we can’t afford to take our foot off the gas now as there are only three games left,” said Cooney.

“Saturday’s game against Dungannon Swifts is now the most important game of the season for us as we know we need to pick up another three points.

“There’s no point in us fighting hard to win in midweek if we don’t follow it up with another win on Saturday.

“We can’t control what happens to other teams but we can control what we do and that’s all we have to focus on.

“If we take care of our own business then it puts us in a strong position if the teams around us slip up just as we did on Tuesday night.

“It won’t be easy against Dungannon though, they are a good side and they will be full of confidence after reaching the Irish Cup final again.

“That’s the way it is going to be for us between now and the end of the season. These are three cup finals for us and we have to aim at coming out of them with three wins. That’s all we can ask for and we’ll see where that takes us.”

Glentoran had to ride out a bit of a storm in the opening half an hour against the Reds on Tuesday evening as the home side created several good opportunities to break the deadlock.

The visitors showed their clinical side as Jordan Stewart and Pat Hoban put them two goals to the good at the break with their first real goal-scoring chances in the game.

Joe Gormley came off the bench to halve the arrears with half an hour to go, but the Glens dug in to make sure they came away with a very valuable three points.

“We knew it was going to be a very tough game especially after they lost the Irish Cup semi-final on Friday night,” said the 26-year-old.

“They were always going to produce a reaction and that was certainly the case for much of the first half.

“They created a number of good chances and probably were unlucky not to have taken one of them.

“For us it was about riding out that early pressure and taking our own chances when they came along.

“Thankfully we did that, and it’s something we have done well all season as we have players who can hurt teams if you give them the chance.

“Jordan and Pat scored the vital goals when we won at Solitude earlier this season and they did it again on Tuesday night with two great finishes.

“That gave us a great platform to build on and deflated Cliftonville a bit going into the second half.

“Credit to Cliftonville they got their goal and ramped up the pressure again in the last 30 minutes but I thought we dug in and gave a good account of ourselves.

“For all their pressure I don’t think our keeper really had a save to make which says a lot for the way we defended.

“It maybe wasn’t the best performance from us this season but it was certainly up there as the most important result.

“We’ve reached the stage where that’s all that matters for us now. It’s all about the results, performances are secondary.

“Obviously it would be great if both things went hand-in-hand but picking up three points is our aim and we will be doing all we can to do that in these final three games.”

The mood in the Glentoran camp is unsurprisingly very high at the moment given the recent run of results and Cooney feels that will stand them in good stead ahead of the final league games.

“Yeah, I think when you come off the back of a positive result and you can see it has made a difference then the mood is obviously going to be high,” said Cooney.

“We all came off the pitch on Tuesday night buzzing to have picked up the win and then when we heard the other results it just lifted us even higher.

“But that’s gone now and we can’t afford to rest on our laurels, we have to go again and keep that pressure on.

“The fans came out in force again on Tuesday night and I know it will be the same in these last three games.

“We have two big home games against Dungannon Swifts and Larne up next and the supporters can really make their presence felt in those matches.

“They can really help us get over the line in these last few games just as they have done throughout the whole season.

“We are in this together and their support makes a massive difference to us on the pitch.

“We want as many as possible to get out to these games as they really can be our 12th man.

“They can be the difference maker for us and I can assure them we will be doing all we can to make sure they have plenty to cheer about.”