Tag: County Armagh
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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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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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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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Momentum is the key theme as BetMcLean Cup Semi-Final double-header tees up tasty decider
Another BetMcLean Cup showpiece has been determined after the two semi-finals reached their conclusions during the week. Surviving overnight rain and frost to take place as scheduled, the premise of a last-four clash is based on being cold-blooded when your chances come along – and while neither encounter may not live too long in the…
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Upset value in the Irish Cup on full display in the Fifth Round… with every chance of continuing
In the Irish Cup Sixth Round, there were three all-Premiership ties pulled out of the hat that all but confirms the amount of top-flight clubs will have at least been slashed in half from the last-32 by the time the quarter-finals roll around. League leaders Linfield will host relegation-battling Ballymena United, second-placed Larne entertain Glenavon…
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Resurgent Armagh City sneaking in unsighted in their bid to leave a mark in PIL promotion race
The New Year’s Day clash at Milltown between Warrenpoint Town and Armagh City naturally saw much of the attention placed on the hosts. After all, reports had broken less than 24 hours earlier that ‘Point chief Barry Gray was about to swap one side of the Mourne Ultimatum for the other and take the vacant…
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BetMcLean Cup’s Mid-Ulster dynamic makes for an intriguing pair of Semi-Final duels
On Tuesday night, the BetMcLean Cup semi-finals were finalised at last and we now know exactly who will compete for a spot in the prestigious decider. One side of the draw features a mouthwatering Mid-Ulster Derby at Mourneview Park, where a high-stakes tussle between Glenavon and Portadown takes centre stage and the bragging rights of…
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Football chiefs should look into how to boost medical provisions across NI football in 2024
Over the course of an enthralling 2023 in the Irish League, one of the more sombre notes has been the sight of some serious injuries. Be it Linfield shot-stopper David Walsh sustaining a severe blow to the head in an accidental coming-together with Larne counterpart Thomas Maguire in the County Antrim Shield decider in January,…
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