Category: Championship
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Institute’s comeback win in table-topper duel at Dundela could be a watershed in Championship title race
The chase for promotion into the Premiership is an intense dash, so when the two primary pacesetters in the second-tier collided at Wilgar Park, it could well have been a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Not so, as it proved – in fact, following their head-on clash on Tuesday night, the…
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A new stadium for Ards would be the cherry on top of a rising Peninsula football scene
It’s over 20 years since Ards left their long-standing Castlereagh Park home and, as 2023 comes to a close, they remain without a permanent place to call their own. Perhaps for not much longer, though. After spells playing their football at Cliftonville’s Solitude in north Belfast, Dixon Park in Ballyclare and Carrick Rangers’ Taylors Avenue,…
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Rises in Championship and PIL crowds reflect real growth in the Irish League’s lower rungs
When the NI Football League revealed the attendance statistics for the Playr-Fit Championship and Premier Intermediate League, you just had to crack a smile. Both divisions have seen a rise in crowds this campaign, with the PIL – expanded from 12 to 14 teams during the off-season – experiencing a 29 per cent increase in…
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Ambition on and off the pitch is fuelling a bright future for flying Dundela
At the start of the 2023/24 Playr-Fit Championship season, there was both an air of anticipation and a whiff of enigma about Dundela. The previous campaign proved a commendable one. Despite a massive mid-season turnover of players and a managerial switch, the east Belfast club mustered a fourth-placed finish having also reached the County Antrim…
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Newington deserve a place to finally call their own… and the local area benefits hugely from it
One debate that rumbles around the Irish League surrounds the stadiums that clubs play their games at and the features of said venues. Astro or grass? Seats or terraces? Wooden fence or walled perimeter? Sometimes, they are even centred on location; what the backdrop is, whether you get a better view watching from the side…
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Mercurial Ryan Mayse is Portadown’s heartbeat behind their bid for a quick Premiership return
A somewhat rocky start to life back in the Playr-Fit Championship would now appear to be firmly behind Portadown. Naturally, the team that has held aloft the Gibson Cup more times than any other outside of Belfast would have entered this term especially keen to surge straight back into the big time following their relegation…
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Capturing the essence of the Riverside can give Institute no end of comforts in their new home
In the latest round of the Playr-Fit Championship last weekend, one of the stand-out results was Institute’s impressive 4-0 victory over Bangor in a third-versus-fourth battle at the Brandywell. The hosts looked in mightily good nick and were thoroughly deserving winners on the day. Shaun Leppard’s opener, prodding home from a dangerous right-sided free-kick, was…
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Harry McConkey departs Ballinamallard United having left an indelible mark on football in Fermanagh
Last week, Ballinamallard United announced that they had parted company with manager Harry McConkey. Following on from the departure of McConkey’s assistant, Emmet Friars, who took up the top job at local rivals Dergview after Tommy Canning’s exit, it will be all change in the Mallards dugout with respected defender Mark Stafford taking interim charge…
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