Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree has hailed his team's "character" and "professionalism" after they bounced back from cup heartbreak to secure a spot in the Irish Premiership European play-off semi-finals.

Just four days after a painful defeat to Coleraine in the Irish Cup final, the Swifts showed remarkable resilience at Stangmore Park, dispatching a 10-man Carrick Rangers side 3-1. The victory sets up a tantalizing semi-final clash against Cliftonville at Solitude this Saturday.

The match began with a moment of magic from Leo Alves, who curled in a stunning free-kick to put the hosts ahead. Carrick Rangers, despite being reduced to 10 men after goalkeeper Nathan Gartside's red card, fought back through Luke McCullough's equalizer. However, Dungannon's resolve shone through as Caolan Marron and Kealan Dillon struck to seal the win.

"I thought we responded really well," McAree said. "The character we showed, the professionalism was superb, and we were tested a few times. Bigi [Gael Bigirimana] broke down in the warm-up, so that was an adjustment. Then Danny Wallace gets banged in the nose and has to come off. Peter Maguire has had food poisoning the past 24 hours—he didn't know whether he would be fit until three o'clock this afternoon and was still struggling—but came on and did exceptionally well."

McAree added: "After the first 10 minutes, I thought we played very well. We were a little bit slow on the ball initially, but after that, we did really well. We deservedly took the lead, their keeper was sent off, and I thought we were very good after that apart from the goal we conceded."

The winner of Saturday's semi-final—kicking off at 18:00 BST—will face Linfield in Tuesday's play-off decider at Windsor Park, with a European spot on the line.