Tag: Newington
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The Championship can bring you up and pull you down… but you’ll always be back for more
It’s been one hell of a season in the Playr-Fit Championship. A league that literally has it all… where no holds are barred, where nothing is off the table, where to expect the unexpected would be to somehow insinuate there were even expectations in the first place. And it is dramatic until the dying embers.…
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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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With the grounds for complaint, how do you solve a problem like progressive Dundela?
The Playr-Fit Championship promotion race has been the business in the 2023/24 season. With as many twists and turns as a sidewinder snake in a division where no result is off-limits and no prisoners are taken, the hunt for a top-flight place has been fiercely competitive and involved a vast number of teams. However, the…
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Ambition of Irish League must be matched by Government with Sub-Regional release
After a two-year hiatus, the Northern Ireland Executive is back up and running – and the to-do list in respect of domestic sport is a long one. With preparations for the Euro 2028 Finals to account for that includes the redevelopment of west Belfast’s Casement Park, which is scheduled to host five fixtures at the…
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Top-six face-offs poised to cap off massive week of decision in Championship title race
A highly charged Playr-Fit Championship title race that is too close for comfort took a fresh twist in midweek when Dundela defeated Bangor at Wilgar Park – and the weekend fixture list could be make-or-break as far as promotion challenges and top-half ambitions are concerned. That’s because the top six all face each other in…
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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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