Category: Irish Cup
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It’s unfair to put blame at feet of Linfield and Cliftonville for Irish Cup Final crowd disorder
A penny for the thoughts of Linfield and Cliftonville this week. This year’s Irish Cup Final was a spectacular in every sense. Nearly 15,000 packed inside Windsor Park for the biggest-attended domestic fixture in Northern Ireland this century and an occasion to savour that, for the most part, featured backing from both sides that supported…
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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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Cup progression further inspires Linfield to do talking on the pitch after turbulent week
In the first of two successive Sunday specials against Championship opposition for Linfield, round one passed with little hitch. Although the BetMcLean Cup showpiece against Portadown is on the seventh day by design, with crowds of over 11,000 flocking to Windsor Park each of the previous two editions, their visit to Institute was more through…
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Glentoran’s eggs all in Irish Cup basket… that can work to their advantage against Linfield
After navigating a potentially tricky Irish Cup quarter-final against spirited Ballyclare Comrades in a professional manner, Glentoran are marching on in the Irish Cup and hungry to win it. As the only one of the remaining quartet in the tournament whose Sports Direct Premiership title chances are realistically dead and buried, it’s significant for the…
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Why Cliftonville’s latest quest for Irish Cup glory draws so much from success of 1979
Cliftonville are within touching distance of the Irish Cup Final – a sound that sets alarm bells ringing more than anything these days. The Reds’ progression in Ireland’s oldest footballing cup competition, of which they are a founder member and have won eight times but only once since 1909, is akin to an ambitious mountain…
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More than meets the eye behind quartet of Premiership vs Championship Irish Cup ties
The Sports Direct Premiership is on pause for a weekend and the Clearer Water Irish Cup is at the centre of attentions as the top-flight’s leading four each face clashes of a different kind. NI Football League CEO Gerard Lawlor has previously put on record his vision of a so-called ‘weekend of football’ stretching from…
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Home advantage can help promotion-chasing Institute and Portadown spring Irish Cup shocks
With the last-16 out of the way, the Irish Cup quarter-finals will be the point of focus come the first week in March as four Premiership versus Championship clashes were revealed on Saturday. In two cases, the lower-league side is the one at home; a meeting of the first and second-tier pacesetters with Institute entertaining…
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