The festive football schedule is heading into peak season – and an enduring staple of the calendar is the regional cup Finals which take place between Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Headlined on the 25th December by the Steel and Sons Cup match-up that fans and followers flock to Seaview for in their thousands, the following morning also sees the Bob Radcliffe and Craig Memorial Cup deciders take place to decide who will mark a trophy day to stand the test of time in the year’s final month.
The Mid Ulster FA-sanctioned Bob Radcliffe competition’s showpiece, which sees Premier Intermediate League team Rathfriland Rangers face MUFL Intermediate A side Moneyslane at the former’s Iveagh Park, promises to be a thriller.
In a tournament where upsets in the Final have been commonplace in recent years – third-tier Dollingstown were felled in late 2022 by Oxford Sunnyside from a division below – PIL new boys Rathfriland would be well advised to watch over their shoulder as noisy neighbours ‘Slane bid to rain on their parade.
And in the Craig Memorial Cup, won by Maiden City at the expense of another team from the Irish League’s third rung in Moyola Park, it is an all-PIL match-up in 2023 as Limavady United and Portstewart lock horns.
Under ex-Coleraine assistant Paul Owens’ tutelage for a little over a year, Limavady are one of the division’s high flyers and, based on the stats and spreadsheets, enter as favourites to be hailed as the intermediate kings of north west football, but plucky Portstewart and their supremo Johnny Law will have other notions as they aim to prevail at Tobermore’s Fortwilliam Park.
Probably most famous of all, though, is the County Antrim FA’s Steel and Sons Cup.
Restored to Christmas Day – that age-old rule of the decider not being played on a Sunday came into effect in 2022 when Bangor faced Dunmurry Rec on Christmas Eve – for this edition, a crowd close to capacity at Seaview is expected for when two Amateur League establishments meet in the Final for just the third time this millennium (10:45am kick-off).
Navigating their way to the endgame as the last ones standing are Premier Division duo Comber Rec and Crumlin Star, two teams of similar calibre who should make the Final showdown all the more pulsating.
The metaphoric use of the cliché term ‘appetizer’ is often used to describe one big clash that precedes another. That rule can’t really be applied where the Steel Cup is concerned; it is in a class of its own.
In truth, though, the beauty of Northern Ireland’s festive run-in means football connoisseurs have no reason whatsoever to claim they’re starved of action that keeps their juices flowing.
In previewing each of these duels, the Steel seems most appropriate to start with.
Over 125 years of history and heritage are attached to this illustrious competition – and this year, a first-time Finalist in Crumlin Star makes the cut alongside league-mates Comber Rec, chasing their second title a full 32 years on from their first.
Both sides required extra-time to progress from pulsating last-four tussles, with Comber battling from behind to take down a gallant Greenisland 2-1 at Seaview before Star out-shot Derriaghy CC on penalties following a 3-3 blockbuster at the Blanchflower a few days later.
The knight in shining armour for Ards Peninsula outfit Comber was Harry Grierson. After young star Conal McWilliams-Small opened the scoring for NAFL Division 1B unit Greenisland, they looked on course to upset the odds before Grierson found a leveller five minutes before the close of regulation time.
It was deep into the ensuing 20-minute extra period – just a minute from the end, in fact – that impact substitute Grierson notched up his second and sent the Parkway men on a one-way ticket to the showpiece.
The jubilant travelling support erupted as Grierson ensured that for the first time since Ards’ appearance in 2012, a Peninsula club will represent one half of those competing on Christmas Day.
Crumlin Star joined them shortly after – but only after eking out a triumphant outcome in one of the games of the year.
From minute one to 45 on a frigid Monday night in east Belfast, the ball had already been in the net five times. Fra Nolan broke the deadlock for Star a quarter of an hour in, Billy Cassells levelled inside a minute, Noel Halfpenny and Joe McNeill built up a two-goal advantage by the half-hour before Curtis Black reduced the arrears to one for Derriaghy three minutes before the interval.
There was no relent when the play restarted, either. Former Dundela ace Dee Fearon was introduced from Star’s bench and struck the base of the post when he had the chance to secure their place from the penalty spot – something Black later pounced on when his side-foot put the Seycon Park panel level again and forced extra-time.
A further 20 minutes were played that remained lively produced no goals, leaving the cruelty of penalty kicks as the only option to decide the match.
Nine were scored in succession before former PSNI frontman Cassells was denied by Shane Harrison, cueing the Star support to rise to their feet and cheer their players as they confirmed their spot in a historic first Final.
Don’t mistake their newcomer status to the showpiece for inexperience on the big occasion, though.
Paul Trainor’s squad are not unaccustomed to silverware; far from it, in fact, as the Ardoyne side were Intermediate Cup victors over St Oliver Plunkett in 2023 – their second success in that competition in four years – and won a NAFL three-peat between 2017 and 2019.
They’ve also got a taster of Comber Rec, too, with Gareth McKeown’s yellow-shirted charges coming out on top in a Border Cup semi-final and Brett Conville proving Star’s nemesis in round one between the Final foes. A 2-0 victory, incidentally, tees up Comber for a New Year’s Day showpiece against west Belfast-based Willowbank.
But thinking of the priority at hand as both fighters retreat to the yellow and green corners, a dose of payback will be on Trainor’s menu as the club that benefited in the autumn from a £3.4m redevelopment of their home ground at Marrowbone Sports Complex look to make amends.
But with Comber adding a high-calibre talent in Robbie McVarnock who was named Man of the Match when Newington lifted the cup in 2021 – that in itself creates a bit of a family divide; his uncle, former Irish Cup-winning Glentoran boss Eddie Patterson, is supporting Trainor at Star – they have the resources at their disposal to leave Star disappointed once more.
It promises to be a Christmas cracker and, with the teams close in quality and ability, it is highly likely that, just as in the last-four, the showpiece could go one way or the other.
Come on, it’s a Final. It’s a whirlwind by nature.
The same applies to the two deciders that will follow on Boxing Day.
At the hilltop village of Rathfriland in south Down, the home club will be hot on the hunt for their second Bob Radcliffe Cup.
Their defeat of Dungannon Swifts’ Under-20s – a side which featured a would-be Northern Ireland Under-21 international in Ethan McGee and his fellow first-team regulars Cahal McGinty and Adam Glenny that day – in 2019 came as an Amateur League club, but they have achieved promotion since then.
Now, as they face nearby Moneyslane, they will be searching out a first trophy since rising up to the NIFL ranks in the summer.
Rathfriland may be formerly Amateur League-affiliated in contrast to the Mid-Ulster Football League association of their opponents, but that shouldn’t dim a heated derby atmosphere at Iveagh Park between two neighbouring settlements.
The NAFL Premier Division champions, who were also Intermediate Cup winners at Windsor Park in 2022, sit eighth-placed in the PIL and go in as on-paper favourites, but ‘Slane were at the top end of Intermediate A last term and will be chomping at the bit come the 11am kick-off on December 26.
For Ally Wilson’s Rathfriland, who navigated a highly trialling route having eliminated Fivemiletown United, Loughgall Reserves, Warrenpoint Town and Coagh United from contention to reach this stage, it is about showing their steel in moments like these. The craft of Ruairi Fitzpatrick, Jack Chambers and Andy Kilmartin will be central to their chances, but Matthew Jackson’s Moneyslane – pursuing their first-ever Bob Radcliffe Cup – won’t make it a canter.
And in the Craig Memorial Cup, which is run by the North West of Ireland Football Association, two of the region’s best-known clubs in Limavady and Portstewart will home in on the prize (11:30am kick-off).
The record champion Roesiders – who have nine titles to their name, including six between 2008 and 2016 – have been on somewhat of a drought by their standards, as Mullaghacall institution Portstewart have been one of those to taste success in the years that followed.
Four-time winners of the competition, the Seahawks have doubled their haul in the last four years alone having succeeded in 2019 and 2021.
They did, however, lose their crown as holders in 2022 when Maiden City ascended to the throne, however a chance for Law and his battlers to go five-star is right on their doorstep.
But as Limavady look to create history in their own right and become the first-ever outfit to reach double digits for Craig Memorial Cup victories in the tournament’s 43rd year, as is the running theme, nothing will be processionary.
In the PIL table, eight points split the Lims (16 in eight matches) – inspired by the likes of Ian Parkhill, Alex Pomeroy, Dean Brown and Joe McCready among their frontline – in fifth-place and their light-blue-outfitted adversaries (eight points in eight matches) in 10th. Former Carrick line-leader Michael Smith is the most eye-opening name among Portstewart’s fold and will look to conjure up some magic for the whole of the seafront town to enjoy.
In rounding off, though, all the showpieces are worth consuming and fireworks on the pitch look to be a certainty.
Featured image from County Antrim and District Football Association Media.
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