It is back into the swing of the Premier Intermediate League this weekend, as Armagh City make the trip to Clandeboye Park in Bangor’s fifth league encounter of the season. Two teams engaged in a straight shoot-out for the 2nd-place promotion play-off spot on the final day are now in distinctly contrasting predicaments just a few short months on.
It was a rough end to last term for the Holm Park outfit, and they’re yet to really kick-start this campaign either. By no means should they be treated with any less than their due respect, however, and Shea Campbell and his troops will be out to claim the Seasiders’ scalp.
After an eighth clean sheet in 10 matches and passage secured to the Steel and Sons Cup last-16, the focus returns to the league where the Yellows have the chance to move to 13 points from a possible 15.
The last outing in the division was the dramatic 1-1 draw with Ballymacash Rangers a fortnight ago, where Adam Neale’s 94th-minute debut leveller off the bench ensured the spoils were shared. This clash is the first of two Premier Intermediate League outings in October, both at home, with PSNI to come in a mid-week contest on the 25th.
Armagh City, last season’s 3rd-placed side in the league and a Championship side as recently as 2017, is the more immediate focus.
They have started the season with three successive defeats, as a couple of 4-0 losses to Tobermore United and Dollingstown were followed by a 3-0 defeat at Moyola Park. Interluding was elimination from the League Cup at the hands of near-neighbours Portadown, where Oisin Conaty struck a hat-trick for the Premiership side, and a documented hefty 1-4 home upset to Willowbank in the Irish Cup first round.
It means their last league goal was against Bangor on the final day of last season. Tension was very much in the air in what was a winner-takes-all tie, with the victor earning the right to face Knockbreda in the two-legged promotion play-off.
Tied at 1-1 going into the game’s climax after Jack Upritchard’s brilliant curled opener was cancelled out by Stefan Lavery’s strike just after the second half’s restart, a late brace by the ever-dependable Ben Arthurs meant the Seasiders took the spoils with a 3-1 win.
The visitors will have been left rather reeling. They did not have the best of conclusions to 2021/22, which also included Intermediate Cup heartbreak as Rathfriland Rangers defied the odds to take the trophy at Windsor Park. Adam Neale started for the top-performing white-shirted Amateur League outfit that night as the 40-goal hero helped them to the cup.
And for the past few months of disappointment, which also saw Conor Mullen depart for Annagh United in the off-season – he started and scored in the Tandragee Road side’s handsome recent League Cup victory over Bangor at Clandeboye Park – ex-Glenavon, Linfield and Dungannon Swifts player Campbell and his men are overdue an atonement and a big display.
It is a show of Mullen’s quality that he is thriving in the Championship. He also bagged the winner in a comeback success over Larne in the same competition’s second round on Tuesday night.
Their other third-tier Team of the Season representative Marc McConnell is still there, though.
Professionalism has been a big part of the Seasiders’ endeavours this term, and such high standards will again need to be upheld in order to stop the Eagles swooping in and carrying the points back on the hour-long journey home.
Lee Feeney may be boosted by the return of a couple of injury absentees in defence. Young centre back Callum Mills, a prominent pre-season feature and representative of the North Down select team at the Super Cup in the summer, has not featured in a matchday squad since the Irish Cup first round clash with Queen’s in mid-August, however a spell of almost two months on the sidelines is virtually at an end and he could be fit to appear in the matchday 18 on Saturday.
Ryley D’Sena has also been nursing a knock in the past couple of weeks, and while listed as a doubt for this match, he is close on a return to action too.
The victory at Belfast Celtic started a six-match month on the front foot, with the first appearance from the start of Neale and Arthurs as a strike-pair showing promise in the understandings and link-ups the duo shared.
“We showed (against Belfast Celtic) that we have more than one approach to our game”
Lee Feeney
Arthurs struck his eighth goal of the season in all competitions to open the scoring before registering his fifth assist to set up 29-year-old Neale for his first Bangor strike as a starter.
Boss Feeney has repeatedly stressed the importance of taking chances as they come, and with two killer marksmen up top who have far more to their game than just goals, this long-sought desire could be fulfilled more consistently in his eyes.
An eighth shut-out of the campaign speaks to a collective defensive solidity. Save for a few higher-quality Celtic attempts in the final 20 minutes, a back-three of John Boyle, Ryan Arthur and David Hume largely succeeded in keeping a side who had secured 6-1 and 7-1 wins in their last two matches away from the goal-mouth. The reward for that is a trip to face Steel and Sons record champions Glentoran II – who the Yellows beat in the 2004 final – in the tournament’s fourth round on the 22nd October, a fortnight from now.
Prior to the draw at the Bluebell against the Cash, the Seasiders had won their first three league matches against Lisburn Distillery (5-0), Limavady United (0-1) and Dollingstown (3-0) to nil.
Moreover, the club lost all three of those fixtures in some capacity last term. The same is true against the next opponents.
It was Armagh City who handed the club their first defeat of the league season last term, a match which transpired into somewhat of a comedy when first-choice shot-stopper Matty Anderson and second-choice replacement Darren Gibbons were both substituted off in the first half – meaning Michael Halliday lined out between the sticks for the rest of the affair. You had to see it to believe it.
After the veteran east Belfast hero had put the hosts in front at Clandeboye Park, head injuries sustained by the goalkeeping duo meant his and Bangor’s match took a very different turn.
There was little that could be done to stop the visitors taking the spoils, with Mullen, McConnell and a Ruairi Duffy penalty – which Anderson conceded to add quite literal insult to injury – securing Armagh a 1-3 win on the road.
“I learned a lot from last season and if nothing else, this fixture from last season shows that anything can happen and we need to be ready to react,” Feeney told Neil Watson in this week’s County Down Spectator.
“I’m really looking forward to Saturday because it’s another league match and it gives us an opportunity to put things right from the Ballymacash game a couple of weeks ago.
“To be honest, I’m still hurting from that match because I know we didn’t turn up and give the best account of ourselves.
“We are a better team than what we showed that day at the Bluebell and I’ll be looking for a big performance this weekend.”
| Other fixtures | PIL MD5 (8/10/22) | |
| Banbridge Town | vs | Queen’s University |
| Lisburn Distillery | vs | Moyola Park |
| Portstewart | vs | Dollingstown |
| PSNI | vs | Limavady United |
| Tobermore United | vs | Ballymacash Rangers |
The return fixture in mid-February proved a happier occasion at least, with Upritchard’s brace adding to a 4th-minute opener by Jamie Glover as the Seasiders earned a 0-3 victory. It surely cannot be understated how much of a morale boost it would be to pick up points this time around that were last lost.
Even in training, the Bangor chief has been keen to light a fire in his side. He’s taken to instilling drills that fuel a competitive edge, with intensity and tempo taken to heart and a little bit of bragging rights at stake as well. At Glen Road Heights, playing on a slick playing surface, Feeney felt the effects of this translated into a display that met his demands.
“I was really pleased and really proud of the performance, and we showed that we have more than one approach to our game,” he explained.
“I thought we were in total control and even when Belfast Celtic had a period of pressure, I was never worried. I knew we would score goals and it was just a case of being patient.”
It speaks to the high level of mutual trust in a demanding environment that Feeney and the squad have in each other to go out and do the job as required. Confidence is often inspired by winning results, it is high around the squad at present and the hope is the sweet taste of victory is again experienced this Saturday.
Elsewhere, Bangor Reserves were in derby action in mid-week as they faced Ards Reserves at Londonderry Park. The clash on Wednesday was a five-goal thriller, but a 3-2 win for Ards cuts the Seasiders’ unbeaten start to the season.
Charley Craig, in rich goalscoring form at both Under-18 and Under-20 level this season, and Jake Anderson, who has first-team action in blue and gold to his name, got the visitors’ goals. Jay Boyd, Conall Young and Sam Moore struck for their blue and red-striped adversaries.
Davy Downes’ panel are in action this Saturday where they face Groomsport in the Junior Shield opening round. It is another short trip where the Yellows will hope to mark a swift return to winning ways. That match kicks off at 1:30pm at The Meadow.
Meanwhile, the Under-11s are looking for new players to add to their ranks. Players born between 2012 and 2014 are invited to join up with the South Belfast Youth League squad, who train twice a week at Clandeboye Park. You can email academy@bangorfc.com for additional information.
Also, the third of four free taster sessions for Bangor’s new Girls Academy is on this Sunday 9th October. The first stage of this exciting new development in the women’s section is available to all girls born between 2011 and 2015, taking place from 11:30am to 12:30pm at Clandeboye Park, and you can register interest and find out more by emailing girlsacademy@bangorfc.com.
This week’s ’20 Questions’ is also up and available to view on the club’s Facebook and Instagram pages, concerning midfielder Dylan O’Kane in this fourth iteration.
It is fair to say the first-choice shot-stopper did not take the best to being named the ‘Worst Dressed’ member of the squad!
Featured image from Gary Carson.
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