Tag: South Belfast
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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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Warren Feeney enjoyed a week of dreams… but Glentoran still have so much untapped potential
Football’s tendency for turning the unfathomable into reality will always be one of its most endearing traits. At that, though, if you were predicting Glentoran to hit Linfield with hurricane-force winds and pound on their door to the point where four goals felt flattering for the Blues to ship, you’d be looked at now as…
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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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Euro 2024 may have been a step too far for this NI group, but it might not be next time around
That taste of ‘Sweet Norn Iron’ has felt so bitter for so long. Entering the clash with Denmark with qualification hopes all but a figment of the past, it was perhaps a tad rueful that it took until the final match of Euro 2024 qualifying to finally beat a team not named San Marino. But…
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Joe Thomson has the Midas touch as Larne show why midfield goalscorers are so sought-after
Saturday evening’s top two tussle at Windsor Park was always going to carry a huge significance – one way or another. Had Linfield won, the engravers would likely have been readying themselves to etch their name on the Gibson Cup even at this early stage. 11 points, though by no means unassailable in November, surely…
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NI’s German dream is over… so give the players freedom of expression in curtain-calling Finland and Denmark clashes
The final double-header of Euro 2024 qualifying is upon us and the Northern Ireland squad has been unveiled to tackle those final two encounters. To say it has not been a campaign to write home about would be an understatement. Where there was hope when the Group H pool was first revealed, the initial excitement…
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Extortionate ticket prices are taking away from the Northern Ireland feelgood factor of old
Northern Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, which had supporters brimming with hope when the draw was first made, has not worked a treat. Michael O’Neill hasn’t been given much of a honeymoon period since returning to the hotseat, as a frustrating crusade will ensure that his joy at guiding the nation to the 2016 Euros…
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Linfield found a calm in a different kind of storm at Solitude… exactly the type champions need
Last week, Storm Babet brought torrents of rain and fierce gusts of wind as it roared into the British Isles. Depending on where you were, flooded streets and felled trees cut the landscape in the calm that followed. But a calm of a different kind could be found amid the ecstasy of a bouncing away…
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