Category: Premiership
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Crunch clash of wounded Linfield and red-hot Cliftonville is ultimate mentality battle
The split is within touching distance, the pressure is mounting and a three-way title race is still a three-way title race. That said, an alarming dip in form for Linfield at precisely the wrong moment has thrown a fresh spanner in the works. Larne and Cliftonville continue to motor on having gone 36 games unbeaten…
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Newry’s fight isn’t over… but they paid penalty for missed chances in key two-game stretch
Newry City were made to pay the penalty at Lakeview Park on Tuesday night, compounding 96 hours or so where opportunity knocked but they failed to make the most of it. A goalless draw with Loughgall, who leapfrogged Coleraine into sixth-place with five rounds of Sports Direct Premiership fixtures left until the split, was a…
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Improving Dungannon Swifts perfectly placed to launch shock surge into European Play-Offs
With just five rounds left until the split in the Sports Direct Premiership, permutations all across the league are being discussed ahead of a crunch climax. A three-team title race is now led by Larne, inspired to a 2-0 triumph over Loughgall courtesy of Scottish striker Andy Ryan’s brace on Friday night. That fired the…
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Stephen Baxter built a winning culture from rock bottom at Crusaders… his greatest legacy
Stephen Baxter will walk away from Seaview at the end of the 2023/24 campaign as the greatest Crusader ever. The Hatchetmen have been treated to bundles of success during the 58-year-old’s tenure in charge on the Shore Road; almost two decades of unparalleled glory in the club’s entire history. Three Premiership titles, four Irish Cups,…
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Rising star Odhran Casey’s last-gasp heroics for Cliftonville shows spirit goes a long way
It’s fair to say that Ireland’s oldest football club have taken a notion of adding a few years of aging to their supporters in recent times. The same was true on Tuesday night. For a third away game in a row, Cliftonville have made a personal gain in additional time at the expense of an…
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Ten of the brightest lights of the 2023/24 Sports Direct Premiership campaign
By Callum McFadden The Sports Direct Premiership has thrown up more twists and turns and is on the cusp of a dramatic climax, with a three-horse title race at one end, a tense fight for a European Play-Off place in the middle and a dogfight to escape the relegation battle at the bottom. Some existing…
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Five managers who could succeed legendary supremo Stephen Baxter at Crusaders
By Callum McFadden Stephen Baxter has announced that he is stepping down as Crusaders manager in the summer of 2024 after 19 years in charge of the club. Speculation will be rife in the coming months as to who may replace the man who is the longest-serving manager in world football at the moment. I…
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Stewart Nixon’s resurgence is an inspirational feelgood tale of the 2023/24 campaign
Seeing a player who has battled hard through personal adversity to return to their peak performance will never not be a satisfying sight. That’s exactly the case with Stewart Nixon, the flying forward whose injury hell finally looks to be behind him. At the start of this season, the fleet-footed attacker made a surprise loan…
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