Competitive football is finally back on the menu, and the thrills and spills that 22 grown men running about a football pitch can produce will once again grace the stage for the next nine months or so. There is a certain enjoyment one can ascertain from following Irish League football, the domestic game continuing to break glass ceilings and fill our weekends with joy or despair as applicable.
In the case of Bangor Football Club, as the promoted side to Northern Ireland’s second-tier, the anticipation is bubbling like few campaigns before. The hardship and trial that have encapsulated the last seven years has manifested into this awaited NIFL Championship comeback; now, in round one of 38, a trip to Ballyclare Comrades sets a new era in motion.
It’s an exciting new dawn. It’s a bright new day.
And no, I’m not talking about the Northern Irish summer. A look out the window tells you that has been anything but.
Rather, competitive football starts back and, for the first time in seven years and more, Bangor will be represented among the rungs of senior football once again.
Seven years where every emotion was endured. Of highs, of lows, of crushing pain and pure ecstasy; if you wrote it as fact, it would be interpreted as fiction.
Nevertheless, the ‘project revival’ moves on to a new phase.
The Playr-Fit Championship shall be the Seasiders’ new home for the 2023-24 season. Since the bitter blow of relegation from the second-tier in 2016 that was to precipitate the club’s fall outside the Irish League altogether, much work has gone on to build back to this pedestal.
With a trip to Ballyclare Comrades on the opening day – Saturday, August 5 – it will truly feel like that tantalising entry into new horizons.
The talking is over. The time for action is now.
A 10-game pre-season itinerary reaches its welcome conclusion, morphing right into the start of a fresh crusade. Having ended the schedule with a comeback triumph over a rotated Linfield side, a fresh injection of confidence has been afforded to manager Lee Feeney and his charges.
The Championship is renowned for being a ruthless and topsy-turvy league. A replication of a surge to the Premier Intermediate title with just 11 points dropped and only one defeat to hand will scarcely be repeated.
Daring to predict placings in the NIFL second-flight could leave some egg-faced if they do not know their stuff. Nonetheless, despite taking to the Dixon Park turf this week as the league’s newly-promoted team, Feeney will be eager to see his troops in yellow and blue belie some of the predictions that have been laid out.
Before we look forward, though, it is worth looking back.
What preparations have been under way to ensure Bangor are in their current position?
With half a dozen new arrivals in the transfer market and the bulk of the playing squad from last year retained, there is a feel of continuity around the fold going into this new adventure.
Four of the six confirmed fresh additions have linked up on season-long loans from top-flight sides. Most recently, 18-year-old pair Sean Brown and Ben Walker have sealed switches from Premiership champions Larne – the former is a right-back by trade and the latter a left-back – to add to Feeney’s options in defence.
The quotes section:
“The Championship is a very competitive league and is one which young players can drop down to and get a real taste for what it means to battle for three points each week. We will monitor both players’ progress closely throughout the season, and they will continue training on a full-time basis with our squads at Larne Academy of Sport during their loan spells which will further support their development” – Larne boss Tiernan Lynch is in no doubt that the Championship is a league that both Sean Brown and Ben Walker will benefit from playing in. Image from Sarah Harkness/Quotes from Larne FC.
Another fresh face is that of Lewis Francis (19), a highly coveted prospect on the books of Dungannon Swifts who has progressed through the ranks of an esteemed Academy set-up, while Ben Cushnie (21) has already announced himself in style with a brace against Linfield in the final outing of pre-season.
“I’m coming in with that previous experience, which I built up last season with my loan spell at Dungannon Swifts,” explained Cushnie afterwards.
“Obviously getting that experience in the Irish League, I think that’s set me up to be able to take my skills and what I can do in my game into the Championship.
The quotes section:
“I’m coming in with that previous experience, which I built up last season with my loan spell at Dungannon Swifts. Obviously getting that experience in the Irish League, I think that’s set me up to be able to take my skills and what I can do in my game into the Championship” – Ben Cushnie gave an interesting illustration of his style of play having linked up with Bangor. Image from Sarah Harkness.
“It helped me physically, playing at that level, and then obviously how I trained (full-time) with the Glens has helped too and helped me to be in good condition. So, I think I can come here, I’ll try chipping in with goals and assists and, yeah, we’ll see where that takes us.”
“So, I think I can come here, I’ll try chipping in with goals and assists and, yeah, we’ll see where that takes us”
New loan arrival Ben Cushnie is optimistic about what he can do in a Bangor shirt this term
Two permanent captures to accompany these loan deals both have the theme of locality in common.
Midfielder Jack Henderson’s incoming following his departure from Ballymena United all but sealed his return to Clandeboye Park – the 22-year-old tasted regular first-team football in yellow and blue back in 2020-21 – while fellow Bangor native Ross Murphy (23) is back on home shores having togged out in the United States during a four-year scholarship stateside.
These six players promise much in advance of an exciting new dawn and an escapade that will take everyone to new limits and horizons.
Of course, it is important to wish those who have been part of the journey but will take on new pastures from next campaign on. The service that was afforded by John Boyle, Jamie Glover, Ross Craig, Aaron Harris and Ally Ferguson can hardly be taken for granted to get to this stage, while Seanna Foster and Ryley D’Sena have returned to Cliftonville and Larne respectively following the conclusion of their loan stays.
As double winners, their contributions are set in stone in Bangorian history and, naturally, they have the well wishes of all Seasiders for their future steps and success.
In Glover’s case, he shall feature for a Championship rival.
Snapped up by east Belfast club Harland and Wolff Welders, the versatile attacker – whose most decorated moment in yellow and blue must be that mesmeric match-winning distance drive in the Steel and Sons Cup semi-finals – will hope to make an immediate impression upon the Blanchflower Park faithful.
He departs Clandeboye Park having certainly made himself known to the Bangor following. That 20-yard curler was a consensus Goal of the Season in the minds of supporters, no question.
The Welders test is in the middle of September, though, so it is not an immediate focus.
Ballyclare this Saturday very much is.
The Comrades recorded a sixth-place finish in last season’s Championship, nudging into the top half for the split and securing what they felt reflected a strong first full campaign under Stephen Small’s tutelage.
The season summary: Ballyclare Comrades (2022-23)
- Position: sixth-place
- Ground: Dixon Park, Ballyclare, Co Antrim
- Points: 55
- Goals for: 66
- Goals against: 63
- Top scorer: Darius Roohi (18)
- Manager: Stephen Small (since March 17, 2022)
Of particular inspiration on the Dixon Park grass surface were a few recognisable names to Yellows supporters. Darius Roohi, a flying former Ards frontman who scored the winner in the 2020 North Down Cup, re-committed to the red and white outfit after a career-best season that saw him score 18 times in league play.
Player spotlight:
Having combined his exploits in the Irish League with Futsal in recent times – he has represented Northern Ireland in the latter – Darius Roohi underpinned himself as one of the Championship’s most dangerous marksmen last season. A quick-footed, fast and technically gifted player, Roohi’s finishing penchant was perhaps on best display last term when he was a Player of the Month on one occasion and hit regular hot streaks in front of the net. Image from Paul Harvey/Ballyclare Comrades media.
The striker was assisted in the creative ranks by class winger Gary Donnelly, who will reprise that role for Small’s charges again in 2023-24, while crack right-back Caomhán McGuinness – younger sibling of Kirsty and older brother of Caitlin and Orleigha, Cliftonville Ladies’ sisterly contingent at Solitude – is a potent attacking force who marked that penchant with repeated contributions in the final third.
Stat attack:
The foundation dates of Bangor and Ballyclare Comrades are split by just eight months, with the former preceding the latter by that one-year margin. The Comrades, who were established in 1919, came into being as a result of the intuition of the old “C” Company of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles – a battalion made up entirely of East Antrim men who fought during the First World War.
Others to pay heed to are fellow siblings Cillin and Tomás Gilmour – both were part of the Knockbreda team that dealt Play-Off heartache on Bangor last year – and Academy product Bobby Higgins, who regularly features opposite McGuinness and has rave reviews at just 18.
| Playr-Fit Championship | Matchday One (5/8/23) | |
| Annagh United | vs | Dundela |
| Ards | vs | Newington |
| Ballyclare Comrades | vs | Bangor |
| Dergview | vs | Portadown |
| H&W Welders | vs | Ballinamallard United |
| Institute | vs | Knockbreda |
Small has a talented playing panel at his disposal, which promises to push Bangor to their limits as far as the opening day goes.
But Feeney has not bred a culture of fear.
“The session on Thursday (July, 27) there, that was the first time we really put our focus into our shape. It was more tactical, definitely, looking at our set-up, and I think that showed; I thought our shape was much better,” the manager reflected following the Linfield friendly.
I’m optimistic after today (for Ballyclare), I saw positives, we stayed disciplined within our shape”
Bangor manager Lee Feeney admitted he had cause for excitement ahead of the match with Ballyclare Comrades
“I’m optimistic after today (for Ballyclare), I saw positives, we stayed disciplined within our shape. But we’ve still got work to do; we can still make big improvements.”
A foreboding message.
Feeney added to Neil Watson in the County Down Spectator: “It’s an exciting moment, especially for the supporters of the club who have been through a lot over the past few years. The club deserves to be back at this level and I know the boys on the pitch on Saturday will be looking forward to the challenge.
“The start of any season is exciting, and a lot of teams are cagey going up against each other because you don’t know a lot about the opposition at this stage.
The quotes section:
“It’s an exciting moment, especially for the supporters of the club who have been through a lot over the past few years. The club deserves to be back at this level and I know the boys on the pitch on Saturday will be looking forward to the challenge. The start of any season is exciting, and a lot of teams are cagey going up against each other because you don’t know a lot about the opposition at this stage. But Ballyclare won’t be looking forward to facing us as the newly promoted team in the division. I think we’ll get respect from every team, because they will know the personnel we have in the squad and what they are capable of” – manager Lee Feeney has urged Bangor not to be daunted by the challenges of the new season ahead. Image from Sarah Harkness/Quotes from Neil Watson.
“But Ballyclare won’t be looking forward to facing us as the newly promoted team in the division. I think we’ll get respect from every team, because they will know the personnel we have in the squad and what they are capable of.”
“I think we’ll get respect from every team, because they will know the personnel we have in the squad”
Bangor supremo Lee Feeney tips his boys to more than hold their own at Championship level
There is much to be excited about, and the prospect of seeing some of Bangor’s star men at the intermediate rung make the step up is an intriguing one.
Deadly duo Ben Arthurs and Adam Neale, whose 58 strikes in total were pivotal behind the Seasiders’ progress on all fronts, have each now penned two-year professional contracts. Moreover, captain fantastic Lewis Harrison is tied down until 2025, joined by his former Linfield Swifts comrade and deputy Reece Neale who extended to the same year.
There is no sense of angst about the unknown, about what could go wrong. It is all about what can go right.
The latter Neale perhaps put it most aptly and forthrightly in his verdict for where his team-mates should be aiming.
The quotes section:
“The summer’s flew by honestly, we only maybe got a break of three, four weeks and we’re straight back into training and we’re getting ready for next season, which only starts a few weeks from now… You’ve got to aim high – if you don’t aim high, if you’re not ambitious, then there’s not really much point in us playing this game, is there? So that’s what we’re going to do” – Bangor left-back Reece Neale feels it is productive that Bangor set their stall in the upper echelons this term. Image from Sarah Harkness.
“The summer’s flew by honestly, we only maybe got a break of three, four weeks and we’re straight back into training and we’re getting ready for next season, which only starts a few weeks from now,” 25-year-old Reece explained following the glamour Rangers ‘B’ friendly.
“You’ve got to aim high – if you don’t aim high, if you’re not ambitious, then there’s not really much point in us playing this game, is there? So that’s what we’re going to do.”
So, here’s to the vice-captain’s wise words.
Aim high. The rest shall speak for itself.
Bring. It. On.
Featured image from Sarah Harkness.
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