In Northern Ireland, there is set to be change in the way matchdays are presented from this season on. The first Premiership matchday of the new season saw a spread from Friday to Sunday – a curtain-raiser building into a main course Saturday of four matches, concluding on the final day of the week with Windsor delight.
In the eyes of many, it represents a much-needed step forward. Other sports can be played on a Sunday without issue, so why did it take so long for football to follow suit, some ask? For others, it may prove a new obstacle to overcome, posing the following question – how much does it sound like fallacy that a day of the week could decide the top-tier title?
Linfield played Portadown in the latter-most of the first matchday’s fixtures. They played on the Sunday, with their fixture put back by a day due to an away fixture in Switzerland on Thursday of that week.
Their Europa League third round qualifier against F.C. Zürich was in all likelihood done and dusted from the first leg.
In the second leg, they were defeated 3-0 to add to a 2-0 reverse at Windsor Park. However, this does not spell the end of their European escapades. Indeed, it could still only just be getting started.
They drop down to the final playoff, a straight shoot-out for a spot in the Europa Conference League group stage with Latvian outfit RFS. The first leg of this high-stakes affair takes place this Thursday in the Baltic land. The return game in south Belfast follows seven days later.
It means that in addition to the Ports match, which ended in a routine 4-0 win to get their title defence off to a flyer, their next two Premiership matches will both also be on Sunday.
They are both winnable ties. They make the trip to newly-promoted Newry City first, before visiting Taylor’s Avenue to play Carrick Rangers. It is expected – both of themselves and from the outside – that they will end August with nine points from nine.
Not that the Blues should be complacent. All of the Ports, City and the Amber Army are tipped widely to be three of the bottom four per most predictors, but it will call on the defending champions to be on their toes while title rivals try to pounce.
Then down the line, when they could have the likes of Cliftonville, Glentoran and Crusaders lying in wait with several days’ extra rest in them.
It will count on their squad depth. Thankfully for them, Sunday’s victory indicated bright signs that they have the reserves required.
Kirk Millar – who was the match-winner in Linfield’s famous Champions League second qualifying round first leg victory over Norwegian successive title-holders Bodø/Glimt before being sent off early in the scathing 8-0 return loss – scored after just seven minutes to open their Premiership account for the season.
After the half time whistle, three recognised strikers in Ethan Devine, Eetu Vertainen and Andrew Clarke completed the rout.
“We had four different goalscorers and that’s going to be crucial going forward,” reflected manager David Healy, emphasising a point of having goals all across the side. The Northern Ireland all-time record goalscorer is chasing a sixth title since being appointed the boss in summer 2015.
It hardly hampers them that they kept a clean sheet too. On home soil in the Premiership last term, not only did they end unbeaten but they were not behind for so much as a millisecond in any match at Windsor either.
If they advance past RFS into the Europa Conference League group, more Sunday re-arrangements will surely follow.
Six extra games – two of which feasibly could be contested in a tantalising north-south match-up with League of Ireland champions Shamrock Rovers, whose place is already assured at minimum – will call on Healy to use his full reserve.
He has already stated that a successful retention of the Gibson Cup is his main priority. He would like the club to account themselves in Europe, to fly the flag, to avail of the £3m windfall that would come their way. Equally though, he has stressed that no lapse in focus will be forgiven. To place too much in either or, domestic or continental, would be detrimental.
It seems strange to say, but a day of the week could be a deciding factor in the title race.
Linfield’s would-be progression would surely have statisticians rushing to look and see their Sunday results in each of these European weeks.
It will take some adaptation. While top-tier clubs are used to rotating if they face a lower-league side in the County Antrim Shield in a mid-week, the context is a little different when a major European force comes to town.
West Ham United, Villarreal, Fiorentina and F.C. Köln all enter at the final playoff stage. If Linfield were to draw one of them in the group, one suspects Healy would be inclined to play a full first-choice starting team, giving it their best shot to seal a result for the archives. Alternatively, he will still have to plan carefully for his spoken aim – the Premiership.
The club recruited well in the market. Vertainen’s initial half-season loan from St. Johnstone has been extended by a year until 2023. Joel Cooper’s re-signing and Robbie McDaid’s capture from bitter rivals of the east Glentoran are statement additions. Step in others like Daniel Finlayson, while Chris McKee’s half-season loan from Rangers was made permanent.
Elsewhere, Kyle McClean – a long-term injury absentee still getting back up to speed – has kept himself fit and caught the eye as a starter.
Clarke, who can play both as a line-leader or attacking midfielder, will continue to grow. The energetic Cammy Palmer could rise into a starting role, while 19-year-old Josh Archer was handed minutes by Healy in Europe. The club’s academy philosophy is to start them young and have them ready for first-team action from an early age.
It cannot be said that Linfield are incohesive. Not in their squad, not in their structure. Cliftonville pushed them all the way in 2021/22, but there is a reason they withstood this fight.
Their mentality is formidable. Where they did not play their best football, they still pulled three points out of the bag. Attribute it to luck and good fortune if you like, but as their motto reads, fortune favours the brave (Audaces Fortuna Juvat).
If they do make the group and seal a bit of history, other teams may lick their lips.
Linfield will be out to make them lick their wounds.
Sunday means more than just a day of the week in Irish League football now. It may be part of a new, more testing rotation for the champions. It is up to them to make it par for the course and keep the heavens blue by the season’s end – but don’t think that they’ll shy away from the challenge.
Featured image from BBC Sport/Linfield vs Portadown highlights package
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