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Northern Irish football

 
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 28.07.2006 21:01    Post subject: Northern Irish football Reply with quote

After the topic on the new season in my native country Belgium, one more topic: about the new upcoming season in my adopted homecountry Northern Ireland.

The new season will have a bit of a novelty: 5 out of the 16 top division sides come out of the capital Belfast. That is almost 1 out of 3. With the relegation of Londonderry's Institute FC, no club further west than Loughall and Limavidy is playing in the top division, so we see a big concentration of top division clubs in the east and centre, whereas the west of the country is underrepresantated. The many Belfast clubs do guarantee some derbies, and given the fact that every club is linked to an either protestant or catholic community within the city, it is needless to say that there will be some very tensioned games programmed.

- LINFIELD won the league last year with a big gap between them and the nr 2. Linfield only lost 1 domestic game in a whole season, they won the league but also the FA Cup, League Cup and the County Antrim Shield. In other words: they won every possible domestic trophy they could last year. They are obviously the big favourites for the title again, certainly now that goal machine Thompson (who scored an average of 2 to 3 goals per game last season) turned down offers from England and Scotland to stay in Windsor Park. Linfield in return offered him a professional contract, Thompson is thereby one of the only full-timers in Northern Ireland.

- GLENTORAN had a disappointing run last season. The Glens, traditionally the big enemies and rivals of Linfield, ended at nr 2 but they did end a whole lot of points behind Linfield. In addition, they also lost the Cup final and League Cup final to Linfield, and were crushed 6-0 by Linfield during the Setanta Cup. So despite finishing second, Glentoran had a disappointing season. This year, revenge is needed, but with lot of injuries during this pre-season warm-up, and with not many transfers, it is doubtful that Glens can be a true danger to Linfield.

- PORTADOWN, usually the only non-capital team to compete for the league title, finished third during the last two seasons. They are expected to end just below the two Belfast giants again, although everyone in Shamrock Park hope that Portadown can for once compete for the title again.

- DUNGANNON SWIFTS is an upcoming rising name in Northern Irish football. Their fourth spot finish last season guaranteed them a starting ticket to the Intertoto Cup and to the All-Ireland Setanta Cup. They are hoping to at least repeat that performance or maybe even threat Portadown for the third spot.

- CLIFTONVILLE, the biggest catholic/republican club, just missed the Intertoto/Setanta Cup ticket, and takes another bet this year. They will probably compete with Dungannon and Portadown for the places between 3 and 5 again. BALLYMENA is hoping to compete for those places as well.

- COLERAINE will have another very tough season. Last year they were very happy to avoid bankruptcy and to not relegate. While financially it seems they have more breathing space, they had to sell their best players to keep surviving financially. Will face a long fight against relegation.

- LOUGHALL, GLENAVON and LARNE were also in constant relegation danger last season, and especially Larne is expected to be in big danger once again this season.

- NEWRY and LISBURN DISTILLERY had a surprisingly good campaign, never getting in danger and finishing not too far behind the top-5. It is not very clear if they can repeat that good performance.

the two nowcomers then (both from the capital):

- CRUSADERS came back to the top division after one year's absence. They won 20 out of 22 games lost season, a unique result. This indicates they probably will not have too big problems staying up in the top division.

- DONEGAL CELTIC promoted after a promotion/relegation playoff with Institute. Celtic was in doubt for the top division because their ground (which is basically just a pitch with nothing more, the sort of pitch youth teams train on in Norway) was not up for top flight standards. They got permission though to stay in Celtic Park, and are now doing a minimum of works to get the ground past the minimum requirements. With a ground that is purely a disgrace in top division football, it is very doubtful that safety can be guaranteed when playing a protestant side.
Donegal Celtic have nothing to do with the old legendaric Belfast Celtic, but they are the first team since 1949 who appear in the Northern Ireland top division with the name Celtic. The team, who also play in the same hooped shirts as the Glasgow club with the same name, hopes the 'Celtic' name is enough to attract good crowds in republican/catholic areas and to recruit good catholic players. If they manage to stay in the top division, they may grow further the coming years, but their first season will be a struggle to survive probably.

In the second division, BANGOR and newly relegated INSTITUTE will be the main challengers for the promotion to the top division.
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HeiaVincent
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PostPosted: 28.07.2006 21:22    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a Viking supporter, I have good memories of Portadown. We met them in the first round in the UEFA Cup qual. last year. 3-1 on aggregate, and Vinni Arkins scored their only goal on an (undeserved, of course) penalty.
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 28.07.2006 21:44    Post subject: Reply with quote

Northern Irish football is of quite low standard, all three representatives in Europe already crashed out in the first round... Meanwhile our southern neighbours (Republic of Ireland) saw their 3 teams proceeding in Europe. I think we in the North have to switch to summer football as well, then teams will be more fit when the European games are starting. And believe me, it can get quite cold here in winter, not exactly the ideal weather for football on boxing day Razz

The big problem of local football is politics. I think everyone knows of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This also reflects on football: in the past there were thousands of people in the stadiums, games between Glentoran and Linfield or between Linfield and Belfast Celtic would attract about 50000 people. But the political/religious hatred grew bigger and bigger and there was so much violence around the stadiums that people just stopped going Sad This has improved now, as only for certain games there is still danger for riots (Linfield-Donegal Celtic, Linfield-Glentoran, Linfield-Cliftonville will be dangerous ones) but in general the violence is pretty much gone. But because of all those bad years, clubs struggle to survive financially, the level of football has become very bad, and it will take time to get people back into the stadiums. Despite the level of football and despite the half empty stadiums, I still prefer this league over the English one though. I like the occasion big game in England or so, but I wouldn't want to miss live football here and watch foreign games on TV instead ; you need the stadium and 'live game' feeling which a TV never offers. The biggest crowd I have seen here since having moved to Ulster, is Linfield-Glentoran of course, there were about 6000 people at The Oval last year when Linfield visited Glens on boxing day.

Tomorrow I attend the pre-season friendly PSNI-Lisburn Distillery. PSNI (third division) is a policemen's club, their stadium says "Welcome to the home of police football" on the wall, almost like a Russian communist-era club Razz The sort of game which will attract maximum 200 people, many are surprised that I as an immigrant show any interest in their local league, but they're flattered in the same way to see people moving to Northern Ireland and actively attending Irish games.
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 24.08.2006 17:52    Post subject: Reply with quote

The League Cup (CIS Cup) kicked off. Linfield and Glentoran, the traditional top-2 teams, won their first encounters versus respectively Lisburn Distillery and Newry. Portadown won as well.

The two newcomers: Donegal Celtic have lost their first competitive game since promotion, they lost 0-2 to Loughall. Crusaders on the other hand won their first competitive game since their comeback to the top division: they won 3-1.

Next weekend there's no league football, as Northern Ireland is facing Iceland in the Euro2008 qualifiers. I will attend the game.
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PostPosted: 07.09.2006 08:21    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congrats with the great victory over Spain Tommel'n opp! Healy has scored quite a few goals for NI now.
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PostPosted: 07.09.2006 16:17    Post subject: Reply with quote

I attended NI-Iceland in the stadium, and saw last night's game on TV. It was a world of difference. The Iceland game saw an uninspired NI side with extremely bad defending, yesterday we saw a motivated and well-organised NI team. If they played like that, they wouldn't have lost against Iceland.

I was hoping for this to happen, I said in advance: if you can beat England, you can beat Spain. NI is always at its best when playing tough opposition. They countered perfectly and brought Spain in defensive problems regularly. Healy's first goal was a lucky one, but the next two were beauties. The man scored the winner against England last year, and now scores 3 in another historical win ; he is becoming a true national hero here! He's the first NI player scoring a hat-trick at home since George Best!
Hail hail King David!!

The city was really pleasant to be in, it was a day of national pride and celebrations in the streets. NI is back in business ; I still don't think they'll qualify, but they surely made up for the bad performance against Iceland.
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 02.10.2006 14:27    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two games far in the season... Glentoran is leading after two successive wins. Surprisingly enough newcomer Crusaders is co-leader after two wins, the team even won 6-2 vs Armagh last weekend. The other new team in the top division, Donegal Celtic, got 4 points out of 6 so they have a satisfying start.

Cliftonville caused a massive surprise by beating Linfield 0-3 in the first game, a humiliating score for Linfield versus one of their most bitter rivals. Cliftonville then drew 0-0 to Portadown so they start with 4 out of 6.

Linfield, the defending champions, lost their opening game but then recovered by beating Limavady 0-4.
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PostPosted: 21.10.2006 01:07    Post subject: Reply with quote

For the first time since FIFA introduced the world rankings, Northern Ireland is above the Republic of Ireland Tommel'n opp! They're entering the top-50 while the ROI is dropping just below the top-50. That is another goal achieved for national manager/coach Lawrie Sanchez. Interesting fact: when Sanchez took over as national coach three years ago NI were not even in the top-100 of the ranking and hadn't won or scored in a long time, since he took over NI started booking results again (including the wins over Spain and England, and a draw with Portugal and Denmark) and NI climbed almost 100 spots on the world ranking since Lawrie's in charge.

There's really a new enthousiasm in Northern Ireland when it comes to the national team, and that reflects on the public interest: over 3000 fans travelled to the away game in Copenhagen, and the home EC qualifiers are already all sold out in advance...

Our southern neighbours on the other hand... Nothing but misery and injuries there, with the 5-2 defeat in Cyprus as a remarkable low Neutral Fans want to axe manager Steve Staunton but apparently no other coach wants the job! Of course, having 10 injured international players at the same time, didn't really help the guy to select a good team...
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PostPosted: 22.10.2006 00:18    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congratulations. That's big news! Tommel'n opp!

Congratulations to all people from Northern Ireland,
and spesial to you. Wink
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PostPosted: 22.10.2006 16:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cliftonville yesterday lost for the first time this season: 3-2 vs Dungannon Swifts.

Glentoran took the best start of the season so far, they lost one game in the League Cup but are still unbeaten in the league. Yesterday they won 0-4 in Larne.

Linfield drew 0-0 vs Ballymena.
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PostPosted: 11.11.2006 22:52    Post subject: Reply with quote

CLIFTONVILLE FC - DONEGAL CELTIC FC : 0-0
(played 11/11/2006 at Solitude, Belfast, approx 1100 spectators)

Today was a bit of a historical event in Northern Irish football. For the first time in more than 50 years, or maybe for one of the first times ever, a Belfast city derby between two teams labelled 'nationalist' was being played. Cliftonville FC was taking on newly-promoted Donegal Celtic at their home ground Solitude.

Bit of backgrounds maybe: Cliftonville FC was founded in 1879 and is the oldest club in Northern Ireland and even the oldest club in the whole of Ireland. Dublin's Bohemians was founded shortly after, but Cliftonville were the very first ones. They also occupy one of the oldest grounds in Europe, the magnificent Solitude stadium which was built in 1890 and whose main stand has hardly changed ever since. Cliftonville were not founded with any political background, the mainly nationalist support came as a coincidence when the North Belfast area of Cliftonville Road (close to the notorious New Lodge) became populated by mainly catholic families. The club has no sectarian backgrounds at all, contrary to what some may believe.

Donegal Celtic is a relatively new name. The club was founded in the early seventies in the West Belfast district of Suffolk Road. Donegal Celtic have NOTHING to do with the legendary Belfast Celtic. Belfast Celtic, the extremely popular club which used to attract tenthousands of fans and became almost iconic (the club has been defunct since 1949 but still has a fanclub), has folded its football team in 1949 due to sectarian violence. Donegal Celtic have nothing to do with the former Belfast Celtic, the only things they truely share are the green-white hooped shirts and the name Celtic. Donegal Celtic were named after the streets in the area who all bear the name of towns in county Donegal, and of course the Celtic part was taken from the Scottish legendary team. Donegal Celtic spent the first decades of its existance in the amateur leagues as -again- sectarian problems made the Irish FA decide not to accept the team until 2001. In 5 years time the team then reached the Premier division, although it was a close one when their ground (which can be compared with the average 6th division ground in Belgium or Holland) was first not accepted into the Premier division. A minimum of upgrades later however, the Irish FA decided to give green light, and this meant that for the first time in 57 years there's a new Celtic team in the Premier division.

Today's historical game was played in the equally historical decor of Solitude. The ground has been built in 1890 and the big stand hardly changed ever since. As a consequence, the stand shows some problems caused by the hands of time: the roof is not very waterproof, the wooden benches and walls could use some new paint and a clean-up, and the stairs to the stand and the toilets almost look like they were never looked after in 50 years: just very old walls and stairs and hardly any light. It's like a travel back in time, to the days football was still a sport and not a business. The stand is old, very old, and it shows. Also, the terraces behind the one goal, are equally delapedated, with some weeds growing over the steps and a very old roof and fence that probably already served before the second World War.

And still, I always come back to Solitude with great joy. I will probably be disagreed upon by 90% of the football fans in the world, but I adore this sort of stadium. It may be dirty, delapedated and looking as if the roof will come down any time, but this sort of stadium has something you just don't have in new stadiums. New stadiums all look like each other, they have no soul, no history. Stadiums like Solitude are like a trip back in time, you really still feel the football atmosphere here like in the good old days, every single corner of this stadium breathes football, the sort of football from before it became a business. This is a stadium with history, with a soul, a stadium which existed almost as long as the club and where the club's big successes were booked. I love this sort of stadium yes. I have been to Nou Camp, to Old Trafford, to Celtic Park... but none of them have the charms like those old authentic grounds. I love Solitude, I always love coming back there. It may be delapedated and maybe fans of big modern clubs will even laugh at it, but I hope it never will be modernised. The atmosphere and the feeling of this ground are unique, it may not be comfortable and big but it's authentic and charming, like an old castle. The only improvement would be a clean-up, because the corridors and toilets are like they've last had their clean-up just before the end of the fifties. But in general, I love it.

The surroundings are very charming as well. From the stand you look out over the hills, and over an artificial pond used by the water supplying services (or, as our group called it, "Cliftonville Bay" to make it sound a bit more attractive than it really is). The one downside of a pond next to a stadium is the icy winds coming from the water, especially because the side of the lake happens to be the one side without stand: nothing to even stop the wind... Winter games can be harsh at Solitude, but guess a very cold winter evening in an old stadium like this has its strange charms as well.

The game then...

Cliftonville started the season as a tidal wave rolling over the opposition. They remained unbeaten longer than any other Irish League team, eventually losing to Dungannon 3-2 when the season was over 2 months far. They are currently joint second with fellow North Belfast side Crusaders, just behind leaders Glentoran from East Belfast. To complete the Belfast domination, South Belfast side Linfield are close behind Cliftonville. Cliftonville had their ultimate joy already when they won 0-3 at Linfield at the opening game of the season, beating the bitter rivals in their own home.

Donegal Celtic is mid-table currently and still unbeaten in away games. Next week they receive Linfield at home in what will look a tiny bit like Northern Ireland's own old firm (at least, that's how the press will make it look!). For the "Wee Hoops" it's a return to Solitude where they beat Institute 3-1 in the first leg of last season's play-off for promotion to the Premier. The game, which was delayed twice due to waterflooded pitch, was played at Solitude due to the problems with Donegal Celtic's own ground. They have good memories of Solitude for sure, as it was here that DC opened the door to the Premier division.

Cliftonville took control of the game fastly and pressed DC back against the wall, however this resulted only in a lot of crosses and corners. Which was surprising: Donegal Celtic gave a very nervous impression in the defense, often clearing the ball in a very panic-esque wise, and their goalkeeper Declan Brown had problems with every cross. The goalkeeper also had some very bad goal kicks, almost leading to more Cliftonville opportunities. However, Cliftonville refused to use the opportunities to really cause danger, and they let Donegal Celtic slowly grow in the game. The first chance was even for the Wee Hoops, when a shot from just inside the penalty zone went over the bar. The Reds also saw a few shots from distance missing their target. One of them was a very nice collective attack over 3 players outplaying the DC defenders, but when the final pass reached a player in excellent shooting position he half missed the ball and saw the shot going wide.

The biggest chance for the Reds before half-time came when a nice pass put two Cliftonville players face to face with Brown, but first the ball sticked a bit to the muddy surface and a defender could just block, the rebound was saved nicely by Brown. The DC goalkeeper became stronger, just like his team itself also had grown into the game. They even got a very big chance just before halftime when Ciaran Donaghy launched a perfect header from a corner, C'ville goalkeeper John Connolly just managed to push the ball over the bar. Cliftonville also had a free kick from over 25m just over the bar.

After halftime the game saw two teams more equally strong, and with more chances. However, although Donegal Celtic now was well organised and participating well in the game, the main chances were for the Reds. A nice volley from outside the box was saved by Brown, who also suddenly started grabbing every cross with ease. The best opportunity for the Reds came just past the hour, when poor defending by Donegal Celtic saw Mark Holland breaking through the defense and coming face to face with Declan Brown, who could do nothing other but to get him down. A well-deserved penalty for Cliftonville who had the ideal opportunity to break the spell. However, Liam Fleming saw his penalty kick saved by Declan Brown, while the rebound was cleared in corner. A new penalty heroic for Brown, in exactly the same goal as where he saved an Institute FC penalty during the promotion play-off last season.

Donegal Celtic however were also not without chances, although their chances came rather accidently. First a long cross from the right side was let through by everyone in the box and Connolly had to dive the ball out of the far corner to prevent a lucky goal. Shortly before time, Gavin Melaugh launched a new cross from almost the same position, this time the ball accidently falling in the closest corner of the goal, but John Connolly just managed to push the ball away from the goal line, seeing a defender blocking the rebound. Donegal Celtic may not have had any true chances in the second half, but both those bad crosses accidently became very serious threats to the Cliftonville goalie.

The game finished in a 0-0 draw, which is a bad result for Cliftonville: they see Glentoran and Crusaders running away on top (both winning their games) while Linfield takes over the third spot after an easy win versus Larne. Of the top sides, only Portadown also dropped points (1-1 at home to Distillery). For the Wee Hoops this draw retains their unbeaton record away, which is a nice achievement with the clash versus Linfield upcoming. Cliftonville may be not pleased with the 2 points dropped, they can be very pleased with the public attention for this game: over 1000 people came to Solitude despite the bad weather, which is a very high number for Irish League standards.

Next week Belfast sees yet another derby: Donegal Celtic play Linfield at home, 57 years after serious violence during the game against Linfield forced Belfast Celtic to fold. Next week the 'new Celtic' is facing that same Linfield, in a Northern Irish league which during the last years has walked away from sectarian violence. Next week we hopefully see the ultimate proof of that, when a Celtic team and Linfield can play each other in an atmosphere or renewed friendship.
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 13.01.2007 22:51    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just back from Glentoran-Ballymoney for the Irish FA Cup. Played in a pouring rain and heavy wind, I think I caught a cold Embarassed Glens won 2-1 versus a third division side, and now plays Portadown in the next round. The draw for the second round was in the VIP lounge afterwards and I witnessed it live and even managed to touch the one and only Cup Cool

Several games were cancelled due to the storm. Linfield, playing in the national stadium Windsor Park, has damage to its roof for the second time in two weeks Neutral and Crusaders saw a wall of their stadium fall down due to the storm. This kinda indicates the poor state of Irish footall stadiums, a bit of heavy wind and the whole thing collapses Confused

Next week I will attend Linfield-Portadown, nr 2 versus nr 3 in the league. Should be a cracker, or as close as Irish football can ever come to a cracker.
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PostPosted: 13.01.2007 23:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

How is the northern irish league? Is it a gap between the best teams and the rest? Are all the clubs professional?
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Gerrit
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PostPosted: 15.01.2007 15:11    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is traditionally dominated by Linfield and Glentoran, a bit like the Celtic and Rangers of NI. Portadown is usually not far behind them and once every few seasons even battles for the championship gold medal as well. This season, Cliftonville is doing surprisingly well also.

No club is fully professional in Northern Ireland. Linfield en Glentoran have a few professional players (their best players are professional, the others are semi-professional) and the other teams work with semi-professionals and amateurs.

In the Republic of Ireland there's about 5 fully professional teams. Northern Ireland has a few professional players, but no teams where all players are professional.

You can compare the level of the NI league with the level of the league in Iceland, the best teams would probably suit the second division in Norway.
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PostPosted: 20.01.2007 22:04    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting weekend this time, with 4 out of the 5 best teams playing each other.

Linfield-Portadown and Glentoran-Dungannon means 2 games where two title contenders face each other.

Linfield-Ports was a desastrous game. I can't believe I paid 9 quid for that Mad Hardly any chance in the whole game. And these are two teams from the top-3 Neutral It stayed 0-0.

Glentoran did even worse. The leaders lost 0-1 to Dungannon who now become seriously involved in the title debate as well.

Cliftonville, the only team from the top-5 facing an easier game, won 1-0 vs Armagh.
Crusaders-Ballymena was 2-2, Crues are losing touch with the top of the table.
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PostPosted: 17.02.2007 19:34    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some updates:

* Linfield are again leading the league. They now did not lose for 19 games in a row! However, Glentoran, Portadown and Cliftonville are less than 3 points behind, so 4 clubs are clearly going for the league crown!

* In the FA Cup, Linfield and Cliftonville qualified for the next round, while mid-table teams Dungannon, Ballymena and Lisburn also qualified and may become outsiders to win it. Portadown and Glentoran (nrs 2 and 3 in the league) had to play each other and drew 2-2, the winner of the replay will face Cliftonville (nr 4 in the league) in the next round. Linfield play Ballymena in the next round.

* the roof of Windsor Park (home of Linfield and the national team) has been seriously damaged during the stormy weather in NI of the last weeks. The Irish FA has not got enough money to fix it or to replace the roof, so unless the government wishes to help out paying the damage, the national team will have to move to England or Scotland temporarily...
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