CLIFTONVILLE F.C (Solitude)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE CUP FINAL, CLIFTONVILLE 0-0 CRUSADERS (AET - Cliftonville win 3-2 on penalties) ATTENDANCE: 4,000 (est)

The final game of my Belfast trilogy took me to the North of the city for the 5.30pm game at Cliftonville's Solitude ground. There was no danger of this game being off as there is an artificial 3G pitch installed at the ground.

The game was a North Belfast derby clash with rivals Crusaders for the right to lift the League Cup. The game was played at Solitude, as opposed to the usual Windsor Park, after both finalists decided to toss a coin for the right to host the game.

Founded in 1879, Cliftonville are the oldest club in Ireland and are the current holders of the League Cup having beaten Crusaders 4-0 in the 2013 final.

Solitude was hosting it's first major cup final for over 44 years, the ground having undertook major redevelopment in the last 10 years or so, with two brand new stands behind each goal complimenting the old Main Stand which was erected in the 1950's. Tonight there was also temporary seating in place to help increase the capacity.

As you could imagine, demand for tickets for this game were high and I managed to obtain a ticket in the Bowling Green End with the Crusaders fans, but, to be honest,  the view from my seat was not the greatest.

In front of the Sky TV cameras, the game was a typical derby affair, played at 100 miles an hour, with precious time on the ball. Cliftonville were the better side in the opening 45 minutes and the second half was a bit more even, but in all honesty clear cut chances were few and far between in a disappointing 90 minutes, the game doing little to warm me up on a freezing cold evening.

There was an air of inevitability that this game was going all the way, as extra time failed to separate the sides. It was then down to the lottery of penalties to decide the destination of the cup. After Cliftonville's Conor Devlin had saved Jordan Owens spot kick, it was all square at 2-2 when Ciaran Caldwell stepped up to make it 3-2. Craig McClean had to score to keep The Crusaders alive, but he fired his penalty wide of the goal to keep the trophy at Solitude and send the 'home' fans wild in celebration.

All that was left for me was to make the walk back into town and sink a few more ales, as you do, and reflect on another very enjoyable weekend in Belfast.

The party begins as the Cliftonville fans & players celebrate in harmony

PSNI F.C (Newforge Lane)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 2, PSNI 3-0 CHIMNEY CORNER, ATTENDANCE: 50 (h/c)

No programme was issued

After visiting the rather splendid 'Titanic' exhibition centre, I felt it only right and proper to go and pay a visit to the team that bears the name of the company that built the doomed vessel, Haarland and Wolff Welders, as they took on Larne in the Intermediate cup. 

Unfortunately this game was sunk by the weather, as Friday's rain continued heavily into Saturday,  so I was forced to seek an alternative. 

After plan B, another Intermediate cup game, Knockbreda v Loughall, also fell victim to the rain, it left PSNI v Chimney Corner as the only choice in Belfast. This was actually one of only two afternoon games that went ahead in Northern Ireland, the rest wiped out by the weather. 

The closest I got to the
Haarland & Wolff cranes today!

The club is associated with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and its home ground is Newforge Lane in Belfast. It was founded in 1928 as Royal Ulster Constabulary and changed its name in 2002, following the change in the name of the police. The club joined the Championship 2 in 2009, where they remain to this day.

The Championship 2 is level three in Northern Ireland and PSNI are the league leaders, though the teams immediately below them do have games in hand.

Today they were taking on Antrim based Chimney Corner (what a great moniker) in a 1st v 14th league clash. There were once again a few nervous moments upon arrival at the ground as the referee inspected a part of the pitch that was heavily saturated to say the least. He gave the go ahead but was still checking again just before kick off.

Finally the game started and a completely forgettable first half saw few chances and poor play but, in mitigation, the conditions were awful as the rain came down and the wind blew cross field.

In the second half, as the conditions improved drastically, so did the game. It was PSNI that took the game to the visitors and had the better of the attacking play but the Chimney Corner defence held firm.

The game changer was Corner's No12 receiving a straight red card. As I was on the other side of the pitch I couldn't see what it was for (my eyes are not the best).

Needless to say from thereon in it was one way traffic and a hat-trick from Mark Anderson sealed the points for the homesters.

As soon as the final whistle went I jumped into a taxi and headed off to my final game of the weekend....

LINFIELD F.C (Windsor Park)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, LINFIELD 3-3 ARDS, ATTENDANCE: 1,500 (est)

With an opportunity to 'tick' off three games in Northern Ireland in one weekend, I took a short flight from Liverpool to Belfast for a wee break.

The first of my three games was at Windsor Park, the home of Linfield FC and also the National Stadium of Northern Ireland. It is fair to say the ground has seen better days but there are plans in place to redevelop the ground click here

There were nervy moments for this groundhopper as the persistant rain in Belfast had saturated the pitch and there were two inspections before the game was given the go ahead around 6pm. The only dodgy areas, as far as I could see were the penalty areas, which wouldn't have looked out of place at Glastonbury!

Founded in 1886, Linfield are Northern Ireland's most successful club with 51 league titles to their name. They are currently on course to make that 52 titles as they sit top of the table going into this evenings game.

Tonight Linfield were hosting bottom-of-the table Ards, who had yet to secure a point on their travels this season.

Linfield opened the scoring through Jamie Mulgrew (17) but a defensive mix up gifted Mark McClelland (19) an equaliser before Philip Lowry (26) and Andrew Waterworth made it 3-1 to the home side. David Armstrong (40) hit back to give Ards a lifeline just before the break.

Despite plenty of Linfield pressure in the second period, they could not break down a stubborn Ards back line and the visitors visibly grew in confidence as the half wore on and, with 5 minutes remaining, Stephen Gordon equalised for the visitors to earn them a deserved point.

Post match it was a 25 minute walk back to the city centre where a few nightcaps were sunk in the legendary Crown Liquor Saloon.

BENBURB FC (Tinto Park)

SCOTTISH JUNIOR CUP 4th ROUND, BENBURB 2-3 WHITLETTS VICTORIA, ATTENDANCE: 190 (h/c)

It was to Scotland I headed today for my first new ground of 2014 and what a ground it was too. Today's trip was in order to see Benburb's iconic Tinto Park, before it is buried under a housing estate in the not too distant future. The ground is in Govan, Glasgow, in the shadow of it's more famous neighbour, Ibrox Park.

There can't be many grounds of it's type left in Britain as Tinto Park is dominated by a steep, large covered terrace down the side of the pitch.

Unfortunately it has long seen better days when large crowds used to gather to cheer on The Bens (the record gate at Tinto was around 10,000).  The rest of the ground is mostly overgrown, but it is very easy to imagine Tinto in it's pomp.

The local vandals have unofficially begun to demolish the ground as, after torching the old social club, they have turned their attentions to inside the ground and, for instance, the dugouts have no cover and there are signs of fire damage on the terraces. There are also large gaping holes in the terrace roof and empty lager cans strewn across the overgrown grassed areas.

It is due to the ongoing problems with the vandals that the club will not confirm the actual leaving date (as they don't want to indicate that the ground will be vacant to give the vandals  free reign) but it will be before the season is out. The club plan to ground share with Renfrew (another ground that is on the way out) in the interim, before moving to a new purpose built ground yards from their current home.

I was not the only 'groundhopper' who was visiting Govan today and there were plenty of familiar faces milling around the ground, plenty of time have a chat and a catch up, which made the day even more pleasurable.

I must confess to be slightly panicked on the journey North as it rained incessantly from Cumbria to Glasgow but upon arrival the pitch looked heavy, but perfectly playable.

As well as the incentive of seeing Tinto Park, the game was also a cup tie. Scottish Junior Cup games are usually full blooded affairs and this game was no exception. The visitors to Govan were Ayrshire-based Whitletts Victoria and the the game was a fine advert for junior fitba.

After carving out the best of the early chances, The Vics raced into a two goal lead thanks to Shaun Allan (35) and Tony Balfour (47) which sent their travelling contingent into raptures, no doubt also helped by a few swigs of the old commotion potion.

However, with seemingly nothing to lose, The Bens went for it and got level thanks to goals from Andrew Wright (62) and Peter Lovering (78).

Neither side were happy to settle for a replay and it could have gone either way but with seconds remaining on the clock Whitletts strikers both broke clear and the ball was squared to Balfour for a simple tap in to book The Vics place in round 5. Very Harsh on Benburb who I felt deserved another crack of the whip, but sometimes football is a cruel game. 

A most enjoyable afternoon at a most friendly and welcoming club. There was also a tinge of sadness as it is always a shame when a classic 'proper' ground is set to disappear. For anyone who has not been to Tinto Park I would urge you to get there ASAP.

For more on the history of Benburb, including a picture of The Bens most famous supporter with his boyhood hero, click on this link: http://mygovan.com/html/benburbfc.html