Author: Lewis Bennett
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Cliftonville’s Irish Cup Final a red letter day, but victory over Larne a key confidence boost
As regurgitated as it is, Cliftonville’s Irish Cup record makes for one of the most perplexing statlines in any Irish League archive. Ireland’s oldest football club’s tale in Ireland’s oldest footballing cup competition is not really a joyous one; they’ve won it eight times, yet boast just a single honour since 1909. That’s one Irish…
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Treble-hunting Linfield have strength of character to finish job after booking Irish Cup Final
Linfield being in with a shout of a trophy treble shouldn’t sound as impressive as it is, but in a campaign where the book has been thrown at the Blues from seemingly all directions, a team where winning is par for the course have probably exceeded expectations in making that prospect a reality. They’ve had…
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Principled Loughgall’s fantastic season down to spirit, trust and honesty in themselves
Dean Smith didn’t pull any punches at the weekend when reflecting on the pre-season perception of his newly-promoted Loughgall outfit. “If you’d have read every report the week before the season started, every single person had us tipped to go down – and straight down,” he said. “Probably with five games to go, they had…
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It’s been far from a classic season for Coleraine… but top-six place shows their resilience
Credit where it’s due – it’s been a turbulent campaign for Coleraine but, barring a miraculous five-goal victory for Carrick Rangers on Easter Tuesday, a top-six spot for the split has been secured and a place in the European play-offs guaranteed. It’s been far from easy, and the Bannsiders know to expect better from themselves…
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Second edition of All-Island Cup is the perfect kickstart for NI women’s club campaign
It has been a while in waiting, but the domestic women’s season kicks off this weekend with five Irish League representatives taking to all-Ireland action. The Avenir Sports All-Island Cup, which was introduced to the calendar in 2023 and received rave reviews among players and fans alike, begins again with the Belfast big four of…
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Removal of post-split schedule misaligns Premier Intermediate from rest of Irish League
There’s been much change in the Playr-Fit Premier Intermediate League however you see it. What was a 12-team league, in alignment with the Premiership and Championship at least in respect of its size, is now a restructured 14-team division as of the summer of 2023. As we all know, administration was the domineering talking point…
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Why flying Altrincham ace Chris Conn-Clarke could be Northern Ireland’s next breakout star
The Northern Ireland senior men’s first international break of 2024 is a somewhat low-key double-header, with a couple of away friendlies firstly in Romania and then Scotland ahead of the start of the Nations League in September. They tackle the Romanians at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest on Friday, March 22 before heading to Hampden…
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Larne and Linfield’s six-hits keep heat on at top… and Jordan Stewart’s return can boost Blues
There’s no stopping Linfield and Larne at the top of the table, with both sides barely breaking a sweat on their way to comprehensively hitting their visitors for six at the weekend. The Blues swatted away the challenge of Newry City at Windsor Park but they were matched goal for goal by the Invermen, who…
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