Short Stories

2023-2024 Season: Under the Lights

After the drama in Tobemore, we played a rare Friday night game under the lights of the Dub as we entertained Rathfriland Rangers. Rathfriland were our first competitive opponents of the season after we had finished with our pre-season friendlies. That game saw us edge past the visitors on their own patch, 2-1 after extra time thanks to a Louis Blackstock goal. 

Could we repeat the dose on own pitch this time?

it does seem though the bookmakers don't think we are as good as what our recent performances say we are. They have priced Rathfriland as 6-5 favourites to take the three points on offer tonight. We have been best priced at 2-1 whilst it is 5-2 for the fixture to end in a draw.

The Dub, Belfast

Attendance: 96 (7 away)

Despite winning at Tobemore, I opted to make a couple of changes for the Friday night fixture. Nicholas Turkington replaced Zach Annett at left back whilst Sean Hill, who created that last gasp winner, was on the right wing in place of loanee Cian Stewart. With Ryan Worthington still feeling his thigh a bit, we brought in Lithuanian Ernestas Verenka onto the bench. In fact, we had cover for every possible position which is a manager's dream. Rathfriland started each one of their three loan signings from the Premiership which further illustrated the pulling power between the sides. They were skippered by 40 year old midfielder Andy Kilmartin who started his career at Celtic but never made an appearance for the Glaswegian giants. He would then play almost 400 games in the top flight here with Glentoran, Distillery and Glenavon: but could our own skipper Johnny Wilson get the better of him?

Our first league match this season under the lights was an even affair with both sides having an equal amount of shots but neither side was more prolific in front of goal, although the match statistics seemed to suggest we were. The goals for ourselves and Rathfriland came either side of the half time interval with the away side taking the lead five minutes before the break when Aodhan Doherty, on loan from Linfield, crossed to the back post where fellow loanee Jordan Mooney rose high above Nicholas Turkington to place a header into the roof of the net.

We would equalise three minutes after the interval when a half cleared corner was headed out to Jonathan Doyle who laid it off to Turkington who in turn found Gary Brown 25 yards out. The veteran hit it first time and it simply rocketed into the net with Rathfriland's Ronan Burns given no chance whatsoever. Neither side could find a winner in the 42 plus 6 minutes  that followed, and we shook hands on a draw. Despite not winning, we rose a place to third as our incredible start to the season continued. Elsewhere, Queens University made it five from five with a 3-1 away win at Armagh City.

Newry City loanee Mooney, who tortured Turkington all night, took home the Man of the Match beers with goalscorer Brown being our best performer.

More updates coming soon, bit busy with work related commitments.

2023-2024 Season: A loss in Lisburn

After coming away with just a point on Friday night against Rathfriland, we were back in action on the Tuesday with a visit to Lisburn where Distillery were to be our hosts for the night. Distillery of course were the first club side of a certain Martin O'Neill. MON would make just seven appearances for the Whites before the legendary Brian Clough recruited him for Nottingham Forest; and the rest is history.

Could we extend our unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions tonight?

Well once more the bookmakers thought our chances of winning were remote. They had the home side as 11-10 favourites to take the win tonight with our best price being 9-4. However for those who think we would have a second successive draw on our hands, this was priced at 5-2.

New Grosvenor Stadium, Lisburn

Attendance: 191 (51 away)

We made changes again for tonight's match, in fact it was a double change once more. Zach Annett came for Raul Zabrauteanu in a switch that allowed Nicholas Turkington to move into the left wing spot vacated by the Romanian. The other change was a like for like one with loanee Cian Stewart coming in on the right wing for Sean Hill who like Zabrauteanu, dropped to the substitutes bench. The forward was again led by former Whites striker Jonathan Doyle who was keen to bag his fourth of the season against his ex-employers. The home side were skippered by former Ballyclare striker Joe Tully who has 18 goals in all competitions with 14 of them in the Steel and Sons Cup: and seven of them in one game against Carrick Rangers Reserves. He would be one that we would need to keep a very close eye on it. They also fielded all three of their loanees from the Premiership, two of them from the Reds of Cliftonville.

After the slow starts of the previous games, we opened the scoring after just eight minutes and it was tragic for the home side in the way that it came about.. Veteran defender Adam McCart looked to clear his lines but smacked it against team-mate Gerard Storey and saw it squirt loose into the path of Doyle who took a touch before twisting and blasting the ball into the net from the outside of the penalty area; giving home keeper Craig Robinson no chance whatsoever. Some way to open the scoring. Yet we imploded on the half hour as we conceded three times in just four mad minutes. Tully scored the equaliser, his 19th of the season, and then had contributions in the other two as we came apart in a state of disbelief.

Thankfully we didn't concede any more but to go from 1-0 up to 3-1 down so easily, meant that there were a number of harsh home truths said in the away dressing room at the interval. It had to be done to see if it could change our fortunes. As it happened, we came out with more fight as if we couldn't let this carry on at all, and we were rewarded with a second goal ten minutes into that second half. A surging run into the box from skipper Johnny Wilson saw him baulked by Mark McKee as he looked to pull the trigger. Penalty! Up stepped Andrew Ferguson to convert high into the net for his fourth of the season of which three have come from the spot in as many attempts. Alas we couldn't grab a third and equalising goal despite having 35 minutes to do so, and slipped to our first defeat since 27 August when Crusaders beat us 2-0 in the League Cup.

Whites skipper Tully, who had been a handful all night, took away the Man of the Match beers whilst Doyle was deemed to be our best performer in the second league loss of the season. This leaves us with an identical number of wins, draws and losses after six games and a goal difference that is neither in the positive or the negative. Queens University still lead the way with an immaculate record of six wins from six. their latest being a 2-1 home success over Portstewart where Matt McManus scored the winner 19 minutes from the end. That same evening saw Moyola Park and Limavady United serve up a 6-4 win for the Park at Coleraine Showgrounds. Not a dull match, then?

2023-2024: Six of the best…once again!

The midweek defeat in Lisburn really stung, especially considering how well we were playing beforehand. The fact our solid defence just collapsed like the proverbial deck of playing cards in just four minutes of sheer madness was unbelievable to say the least. Not even an improved second half showing could rectify the damage that had been done. So we watched those four minutes over and over again like a bad horror movie, dissecting the frailties.

We knew we had to get back to winning ways as soon as, ideally next game.

Before the next match, experienced defender Mark McCullagh expressed a few concerns that he wasn't getting as many games as he liked. Granted Craig Briers has been playing reasonably well, I felt MM needed a chance or two to show me what he can bring to the table. If he performs, he will stay in: simple as. One player who is happy though is back up keeper Allister McVeigh has pledged his future to us despite rumoured interest elsewhere; he's a very capable deputy to Jonah Magill. Just the tonic ahead of Saturday…

Saturday takes us to East Park, the home of East Belfast, in the quarter finals of the Steel and Sons Cup. This is a real chance to get into the semi-finals and within touching distance of a piece of silverware already. The bookies have priced both sides at 8-5 with 5-2 your best price for a draw. They're gonna fancy their chances, we just have to be up for the task in hand.

East Park, Belfast

Attendance: 329  (153 away)

In light of Tuesday's loss, we changed two members of the back four but not because we were making them scapegoats. Mark McCullagh was given a chance to prove his worth following his chat midweek whilst Jack Graham was given a start in central defender as we rested Andrew Ferguson. Vice-Captain Craig Briers was the one to make way for McCullagh, but this was not going to be the first time changes like this would happen. The bench was selected so we had cover for all positions should we needed to utilise it. East Belfast had a squad that had a number of Glentoran connections, including Congolese striker Nick Beta  and pacy teenager Jay Dalzell. Can we avoid the banana skin that was in our path?

After a surprisingly cagey start, we took the lead in the 22nd minute. The recalled McCullagh played a throw in to skipper Johnny Wilson who returned the ball to the full back and he in turn teed up Louis Blackstock to drill a sweet half volley into the far corner of the net. Then as half time seemed imminent we had a second; Zach Annett played the ball down the line for Nicholas Turkington who tucked inside to the onrushing Blackstock  to leather in his second of the game and fourth of the season into the top corner. It got better 25 seconds into the second half, Cian Stewart zipping down the right wing before finding Jonathan Doyle who found the net with a shot that clipped the post and in. Dreamland.

There had been little for the home support to cheer over but they did have something in the 49th minute when Beta outstripped Graham for pace before calmly slotting past Jonah Magill. Lithuanian Ernestas Verenka and Jake Moore were then introduced for cameo roles, and it cued up more goals for us. In the 76th minute Verenka's corner was met by a quality header from McCullagh who was certainly making the most of his inclusion, and then three minutes later Stewart again burst down the right and his cross picked out the onrushing Verenka to plant home a header for 1-5.  Dalzell scrambled in a second for the hosts with eight minutes to go after we had got ourselves into a unwanted tangle but we had the final word two minutes from time when McCullagh's punt forward caused indecision from home keeper Wayne Drummond and Moore nipped in to nod the ball home for our sixth of the afternoon. Semi-finals here we come!

There were many good performances out there in such a comprehensive away win, but the Man of the Match beers went to midfielder Louis Blackstock. Left winger Jordan McAdorey was the pick of the East Belfast team.

Minutes after the final whistle, the semi-final draw was made with Queens University, Distillery and Moyola Park joining ourselves in the hat. The draw gave us this.

A wee chance of revenge methinks? And also our first home tie in said competition too…

2023-2024 Season: Another case of the away day blues…

We had a week's break before the next game, which was on the road to the division's bottom placed side. Having lost in our last league match, we were hoping that the impressive showing against East Belfast would spur us on towards another win. But we couldn't take anything for granted, after all we were in a position that the media were not expecting us to be in.

Play to our strengths and we will be fine, right?

Despite being without a win in five, Limavady were installed as 11-10 favourites to take the win against us by those bookmakers. Our best price was around 11-5 with a draw best priced at 5-2. We knew full well that if we took the points on offer, and results went our way elsewhere then we could ascend the table again. The question was: could we do it?

Limavady Showgrounds, Limavady

Attendance: 101 (5 away)

With it being a league game, we were back to naming seven substitutes so we again covered all bases with our choices for the bench. The starting eleven showed a single change from the side that had appeared seven days previous. Andrew Ferguson came back into central defence at the expense of Jack Graham who had a reasonably decent match at East Park but not outstanding. Mark McCullagh kept his place at right back ahead of Craig Briers and I felt that this side had more than enough to defeat the basement dwellers. The Roesiders had a youthful squad out on duty keen to impress and make their collective mark on the game but this was offset by the experience provided by former Coleraine winger Ian Parkhill, centre half Graham Crown (who had played for a number of years at Institute and also Coleraine) and stalwart skipper Hugh Carlin who was in his ninth successive season at the Showgrounds.

In a game which had very few clear cut chances because of incessant rain throughout, we went behind three minutes before half time. A long range effort from Crown was parried by Jonah Magill, and as our defence hesitated, Parkhill drove home the rebound. We were being beaten by the league's bottom placed side and had been reduced to being absolute mediocre. I made changes, and it looked like nothing would come until we drew level with 19 minutes left on the clock. Skipper Johnny Wilson's pass saw two home defenders collide with each other in a moment of slapstick comedy; leaving Cian Stewart with an unchallenged run on goal and the loan signing advanced before confidently placing a shot into the far corner for 1-1.

We hoped that we would kick on from there and take the points. However, Stewart's effort turned out to be our only effort on target in the entire game as we continued to play absolute shocking football. With us hopelessly out of tune, the Roesiders had the chance to grab a morale boosting win and they got it with just three minutes to go. They recycled possession after Wilson half cleared, and the ball found its way to skipper Carlin who literally crunched it home from fully 25 yards out with Magill given no chance at all.

Hugh Carlin was the recipient of the Man of the Match beers with Stewart being the best performer from our shower of dog poo…

2023-2024 Season: Birthday presents in Ballyclare

Saturday's loss to bottom placed Limavady made it back to back losses in the league for us, and left us exactly halfway after seven matches. It had more complications than losing to the then basement dwellers, as results elsewhere meant we're just three points adrift of the new bottom placed side: Portstewart so unless we arrest (if you pardon the pun) this slide quickly then we could hurtle down the table quicker than Franz Klammer descending Kitzbuhel.

After such an impressive beginning, we're unravelling like Granny's knitted jumper at the moment.

Tuesday, gave us an away trip to Ballyclare on my birthday. The Intermediate Cup isn't a priority as much as some might picture but it's like any competition you enter: you've got to put the hard yards in to compete and advance. However, Ballyclare Comrades are a division above us in the league pyramid and lie 5th in the Championship after 12 games played. So naturally the bookmakers have the Comrades as favourites to progress with a best priced 4-6.  Obviously they think we have very little hope and are 7-2 to advance, it's 11-4 if you fancy a draw.

Dixon Park, Ballyclare

Attendance: 119 (37 away)

The Intermediate Cup meant we were back to naming just five substitutes instead of seven, so Jack Graham and Sean Hill were the ones to miss out from the squad that were on duty in Limavady last Sunday. I resisted the call to bring back Craig Briers in place of Mark McCullagh at right-back, believing the veteran would justify his inclusion with a good performance. However I did make one change, and that was to include Lithuanian winger Ernestas Verenka on the left wing in place of Nicholas Turkington to try and get more consistency in that position. The home side had youth team keeper Robbie Mather in between the posts, in fact none of their side was aged over 25. There was no place at all in the sixteen for former Coleraine and Crusaders defensive stalwart Howard Beverland; a veteran of 370 top division games.

Naturally we were under the proverbial pump from the start, but for some reason the home strikers seemed to have forgotten their shooting boots as the efforts were tamely at Jonah Magill or widely off target leaving their supporters completely perplexed and thinking they would pay the ultimate price. With this happening, we had the feeling that we might just be able to spring a surprise if we could manufacture a chance on goal. But their defence was proving a tough nut to crack open and I was preparing myself for saying “Job well done so far” at half time when the deadlock was broken in the first of two minutes added on and surprisingly enough it was us that scored it. McCullagh tried to play the ball into Jonathan Doyle but home defender Owen McConville got a foot in. The ball would land at the feet of Cian Stewart who steered the ball across Mather and low into the far corner for a shock lead. It was his team-leading sixth of the season.

The second half was a carbon copy as the Comrades looked to try to get back on level terms and save themselves from what their supporters were seeing as an embarrassing Cup exit. However, the 37 away fans were sensing something completely polar opposite and the perfect way to celebrate. Could we bag the icing on the cake or would we capitulate under the incessant pressure eventually? Yet time ticked on, and we got a corner in second half added-on time. Verenka delivered, and after the corner was headed out back to him - the Lithuanian winger crossed for Ben Mitchell to rise the highest and head in the clincher! Happy Birthday the away fans serenaded as the final whistle sounded just seconds later. A remarkable effort considering we had just the two efforts on target from six all game and both resulted in goals. Beautiful.

Mitchell was the choice for the Man of the Match beers but the back four as a whole were fantastic on the whole.

D