Tag: Larne
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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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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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Big guns beware… Ballyclare and Newington showed they can cut it when chips look down
The Irish Cup last-16 proved a fruitful round for Championship clubs, with six entering the fray and four coming out the other side unscathed. Indeed, there wasn’t a single instance of a Premiership club toppling a second-tier adversary, with north Down duo Bangor and Ards eliminated by division rivals Portadown and Institute respectively. Harking back…
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Larne’s County Antrim Shield four-peat perfect tonic to fuel their domestic treble ambitions
A fresh County Antrim Shield campaign began in September 2023 with a burning question: who will be the team to finally knock Larne off their winners’ perch? At the end of the latest edition of a historic competition, that question remains unanswered. The Invermen still can’t be beaten – not even the stormy weather conditions…
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Tiernan Lynch and Larne will keep reaping the rewards of going all-in for County Antrim Shield
The County Antrim Shield’s unfortunate reduced status in the matchday calendar has come as a result of an evolution of priorities in the Irish League. With full-time football and increased professionalism, European money has been considered much more of the essence among those dining at the top table during the past half-decade. Those lucrative spots…
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County Antrim Shield Final is more than just a revenge mission for Warren Feeney’s Glentoran
The first piece of silverware this season is up for grabs, and while the County Antrim Shield has come to be considered the littlest brother of Northern Ireland’s four senior honours, trophies of all kinds count for much – and this is no exception. In a repeat of the 2020/21 Final, when Larne clinched the…
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Oft-unsung Ronan Doherty is ready to rise out of Chris Gallagher’s shadow at Cliftonville
It was an eventful week that ended in a flourish for Cliftonville, who continue to put their title credentials on show despite the seemingly incessant rumours linking their stars with moves away in January and the summer. The drawn-out saga over one such, Chris Gallagher, finally met an end when the midfielder’s exit to Larne…
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