Tag: Cliftonville
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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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Larne have played January market to a tee and will keep competitive edge because of it
At the start of the winter window of 2024, I wrote on this site that January would play a key role in deciding who would emerge as Sports Direct Premiership champions come the close of the season. Larne took that notion to heart on Friday night, and it is no surprise that they are in…
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Mentality monsters Larne will be wary that outsiders Glentoran can still dent title race
The race for Gibson Cup glory took one fresh turn in the path in midweek and will wind down another on Friday night. Question marks hanging over Linfield are now Cliftonville’s to bear the brunt of following the visitors’ 3-0 success at Solitude in midweek, as a trio of second-half strikes put the Blues back…
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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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Defences can win titles in the Irish League… but sometimes attack is the best form of it
There’s a classic saying in football that has rung true in many hunts for league glory all over the world across the years. “Attacks win you games, defences win you titles.” First famously coined by the legendary former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who suggested that scoring bucketloads of goals may win you battles…
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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…
