A big week of BetMcLean Cup action kicked off on Tuesday night with one outstanding second round tie and the first of the quarter-finals.

Linfield and Glentoran met at Windsor Park to complete the second round, with the holders looking for home advantage to maintain their quest for a third successive triumph in the competition.

But it didn't quite work out that way for the Blues as they made their exit thanks to James Douglas' 87th minute winner - and the only goal of the game - as he sent a deflected effort from Ben Hall's attempted clearance past Chris Johns to book a quarter-final trip to Ballymena United later this month (17th December).

Across the city, in the first last eight tie, Crusaders surrendered a two-goal lead at home to Dungannon Swifts before winning through in extra-time.

The Crues raced into a commanding lead midway through the first half.

Harry Jewitt-White fired Declan Caddell's side in front on 17 minutes after pouncing on the loose ball from a right-sided cross and volleying past Patrick Solis Grogan into the opposite top corner.

Then, just six minutes after that, Kieran Offord doubled home advantage and opened his account for the night at the back post after Daniel Larmour had sent over a low cross from the right.

The Swifts were thrown a lifeline four minutes from the break. Tomas Galvin did well to find John McGovern in the area who, in turn, slotted the ball past Jonny Tuffey who couldn't keep it out despite getting a hand to the ball.

That was how it stayed until five minutes from time when, amid dramatic scenes, the Swifts levelled.

Presented with a penalty after Lewis Barr's challenge on Gael Bigirimana, Tuffey correctly dived to the right to keep out Kealan Dillon's spot-kick only for Leo Alves to pounce on the rebound and knock it into the net.

However the Crues made no mistake in extra-time after Offord doubled his tally for the evening on 92 minutes with a powerful strike into the bottom corner.

And Offord claimed the match ball just over ten minutes after that to kill the game off when he held off the challenge of Danny Wallace and finished low past the visiting keeper.

The Crues will meet the winner of the Ballymena United-Glentoran clash in the semi-finals.

The action continued on Wednesday evening as Larne and Cliftonville progressed to the last four.

Matthew Lusty hit a hat-trick at the BMG Arena as Larne powered past Annagh United.

The 21-year-old opened the scoring midway through the first half with a driven effort back across goal after Jason Craughwell had initially turned away a corner.

Larne doubled their advantage early in the second half after Benji Magee progressed down the right to send over a low cross that was turned into the net by a home defender.

Then, three minutes after that, Lusty doubled his tally for the evening with a volley into the corner of net from a Mark Randall delivery.

Leroy Millar extended Larne's lead seven minutes from time after Tomas Cosgrove had knocked a cross back into his path.

Lusty then bagged his third of the evening right at the end with another great finish across the goal.

Cliftonville edged into the last four at the expense of Armagh City at Holm Park.

Scoreless at the break, the Reds moved in front not long after the break when a defensive lapse allowed Ryan Curran to open the scoring.

Rory Hale then doubled the visitors advantage when, following good work from Micheal Glynn, he finished into the bottom corner.

And 15-year-old Coran Madden completed the scoring in the closing moments after good build up play on the right from Jack Berry.