Glens see off Blues after extra-time in Irish Cup thriller
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Belfast Telegraph
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Linfield boss David Healy outlines main reason Larne let slip League crown… and it's not fixture chaos
Linfield manager David Healy says he believes that Irish League sides can still reach the group stages of major European competition and challenge for the Premiership title despite Larne's struggles in the 2024/25 season.
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Linfield's Shelbourne rematch 'silly'
Linfield midfielder Chris Shields says it is "a bit silly" that the Blues and Shelbourne will meet for a second time in European qualification this clubs met in Champions League qualifying in July, with the League of Ireland champions winning 2-1 on aggregate, before the Dublin side lost to Qarabag and Rijeka in subsequent qualifiers to drop down into a Conference League that defeat to Shels, Linfield negotiated ties against Lithuania's Zalgiris and Vikingur of the Faroe Islands, setting up a winner-takes-all rematch between the teams for a place in the group first leg will take place at Shelbourne's home ground of Tolka Park on Thursday (19:45 BST) with the return at Windsor Park to follow the next week, but Shields believes the rematch is inconsistent when compared to how Uefa organise their group formats."It's a rule Uefa could go about tweaking," Shields told Sportsound on BBC Radio Ulster."To play the same team twice in a six-week period is a bit silly. "When you look at the new format of the group stages in the Champions League and all of the other European competitions, you don't play anyone twice anymore, so how are we playing the same team four times in such a short space?" 'Qualification would be reward for club stalwarts' The 34-year-old Dubliner has previous group stage experience in Europe with Dundalk in 2016 and 2020 and said it would be "the pinnacle" for a lot of the squad should the Blues turn the tables on the League of Ireland champions this time around. "The likes of Jamie Mulgrew, Kirk Millar... It's Kirk's testimonial year this year, so no more fitting year to get into the group stage," he said."People who've been at the club a long time, David (Healy) the manager for a long time and (kit manager) Gary Eccles here for 41 years - it would be good for these people to get to the group stage."Shields missed the first leg of the Champions League qualifier at Tolka Park in July due to suspension but is available for Thursday's return to Dublin which could see him make his 60th appearance in European game was Linfield's first competitive fixture of the new campaign with Shelbourne midway through their own domestic season and Shields is hopeful the "minutes in the legs" since will put the Blues in a better position this time around. "We're definitely better prepared," he added."We've had six European matches and every one of them were tough and challenging matches [that] you are never going to get with a friendly, plus the Dungannon (league) game last weekend."We've the minutes in the legs and the bodies are in a far better position going into this round than the first round when we met them. The unknown is out the window as we are familiar with how Shelbourne play and we're more familiar with how we play since going into the last one."
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
'Sockgate', face-offs and Gibson goals
The second set of fixtures of the new Irish Premiership season may have seen only four matches played rather than the regular six, but Saturday's action still managed to throw up its fair share of talking Rangers and Glentoran established themselves as the pacesetters at this very early stage of the 2025-26 campaign as both clubs made it six points from six by securing home wins over Glenavon and Bangor Cliftonville and Coleraine played out a goalless draw at Solitude, while Portadown defeated nine-man Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park for their first victory of the new Sport NI looks at some of the main takeaways from the weekend's quadruple-header. Defences 'box clever' after 'sockgate' Ultimately, some of the talking points around the eagerly anticipated 'match of the day' between Cliftonville and Coleraine surrounded events before the game and during the half-time interval of Saturday's heavyweight encounter in north the run-up to kick-off it emerged that Coleraine had neglected to bring their match socks to Solitude, with a representative of the Bannsiders having to be hastily dispatched to a local sports retailer to acquire the necessary footwear, in dark blue to avoid any potential clash of colours with their after a first half which saw both sides barely able to land a glove on their opponents, supporters were treated to a half-time face-off in the centre circle as boxers Matty Boreland and Ruadhan Farrell squared a Coleraine supporter, and Cliftonville fan Farrell, will meet on the undercard of the Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan rematch at Windsor Park on 13 the pitch, Magilton's men and Higgins' charges slugged it out after some early sparring, but neither was able to find a knockout blow and had to settle for a share of the the array of attacking talent on display, including Joel Cooper, Matthew Shevlin and Joe Gormley, defences were largely on top and goalmouth action mostly at a Curran came close to scoring for the home side while substitute Gormley believed the challenge which helped prevent him scoring in the dying moments was metaphorically 'below the belt' and should have been punished with a penalty. Cliftonville still chase their first win of the season, while Coleraine fans retain high hopes that their club's investment will continue to allow them to 'punch above their weight' in comparison with previous years and add to their solitary previous Irish League title success in 1974. Gibson among the goals again The race for the Gibson Cup may be very much in its infancy but the name of the trophy which is awarded annually to the Irish League champions was well to the fore on Gibson's first-half goal at Taylors Avenue proved enough to condemn Glenavon to a second straight league defeat, the former Glentoran striker making it three goals in two games after contributing a double in the stunning opening day comeback success against Carrick frontman applied the finishing touch to Paul Heatley's delivery and has now racked up 40 goals in 90 appearances for the side. The victory secured manager Stephen Baxter's first back-to-back league wins in charge of the east Antrim club on a playing surface which he described to listeners of Radio Ulster's Sportsound as "lively and bumpy"."I'm very pleased to get off to the start we have but it's very early days. We have a new squad and it takes time to get them playing the way we want them to," said Baxter, whose team only retained their Premiership status via the end-of-season play-off in asked if he was concerned that his side's early momentum may suffer from the postponement of Tuesday's scheduled league meeting with Linfield, the former Crusaders manager explained that he was happy with the fixture being delayed as his players "needed a rest".Glenavon, meanwhile, travel to Glentoran in midweek still searching for their first point of the new campaign. Dungannon more Gibson goals Dungannon's disappointing start to the campaign continued as they went down to a comprehensive 4-1 defeat by Shamrock Reds took significant early steps towards clinching their first points of the new season by moving 2-0 ahead and, despite Sean McAllister pulling one back from the penalty spot, late second-half goals from new signing Jordan Gibson ensured the win for Niall Currie's Swifts' cause was not helped by the dismissal of skipper Gael Bigirimana for a high challenge on Eamon Fyfe late in the first half followed by substitute Leo Alves receiving a red card for two bookable offences in quick losses and seven goals conceded, with just one goal, a spot-kick, scored, does not represent the start manager Rodney McAree will have been looking for as he sets out to build on the Irish Cup success, fourth-place league finish and European qualification that his team achieved last season. '1-0 to the Glentoran...' Successive 1-0 triumphs in their opening two matches of the season is hardly enough to see Glentoran labelled with the terrace chant associated with the efficient Arsenal side who picked up the knack of winning games by the single-goal scoreline in the 1990s. However, everyone associated with the Oval outfit will take those opening 1-0 wins over Portadown and Bangor very nicely as a potential springboard towards building a Premiership title won just nine of their previous 24 home league games prior to beating the Seasiders, manager Declan Devine will hope that Saturday's victory at the Oval, courtesy of a goal from recent acquisition Ryan Cooney, will also provide a platform for improved results on their home patch in the top tier this the match, Devine told Sportsound listeners that he was "pleased with a lot of the football his side played" and "there were a lot of good individual performances".The Glens boss pronounced himself particularly happy with the displays of two of his other summer signings - Jordan Stewart and substitute Liam Burt - who made a positive impact off the bench after overcoming a long-term hip Bangor's part, they defended resolutely for much of the game, but Kyle Owens' error when misplacing an attempted back-pass proved decisive and provided a stark reminder for the Seasiders, if one were required, of how mistakes are ruthlessly punished in the top division, following their curtain-raising 3-1 win over Cliftonville last weekend.
