CRUSADERS FC (Seaview)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, CRUSADERS 4-2 GLENTORAN, ATTENDANCE: 2,433

Welcome back to my humble little blog, a (belated) Happy New Year to you!

The weather has been playing havoc with football matches over the last few weeks, with many, many postponements, so for my first trip of 2016 I crossed the Irish Sea to watch the Belfast derby between Crusaders and Glentoran.

There was absolutely no danger of any call off today as Crusaders' Seaview home has a 4G artificial pitch, which was installed in 2009. This little fact was at the back of mind when I originally booked this trip last November. Good job too as quite a few games in the province were called off due to waterlogged pitches.

It was an early flight into Belfast, allowing plenty of time for one to tuck into a large Ulster Fry before heading up the Shore Road to the stadium. The ground is about a 30 minute walk from the city centre and has been the home of Crusaders since 1921.

You can actually see the ground as you head into the city, as Seaview is clearly visible from both the Larne to Belfast train and also the M2 motorway, from where I first caught a glimpse from the top deck of the bus taking me from the airport to the city. However walking up on foot, the first thing you notice on arrival at the ground is the mural painted on the wall on the corner of St Vincent Street.

Crusaders were formed in 1898 and played intermediate (amateur) football until 1949 before joining the senior ranks. The club have five league titles to their name and are the current champions. The Crues are currently top of the table and look on course to defend their title.

This Belfast 'derby' was billed as the game of the day in Northern Ireland and it did not disappoint.

Crusaders Jordan Owens broke the clubs goalscoring record last weekend, when he netted his 157th goal for the club and he should have added to the total after just 2 minutes when he had an effort blocked on the line, when it was probably easier to score.

However it was Glentoran who struck first after 7 minutes when a Barry Holland shot from 35 yards was parried by Crusaders goalkeeper Sean O'Neill into the path of Curtis Allen, who tapped home from inside the six yard box. On 33 minutes Allen doubled the Glens lead when he latched onto a long ball, shrugged off the defender and produced a fine finish, lobbing the ball over the advancing 'keeper.

Despite being two goals down, the Crusaders fans kept backing their team, especially the lady who was sitting near to me who was urging her team to "Go on, go on" I did wonder if her surname was Doyle? The home fans in the stand behind the goal also belted out a fine rendition of Erasure's 'A Little Respect' which is the song that The Crusaders run out to.

Colin Coates had a goal disallowed for the Crusaders but they finally got on the score sheet after 43 minutes when Jordan Forsythe fired home a low free kick from the edge of the box. Less then sixty seconds later they were level. The Glentoran defence failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Matthew Snoddy on the edge of the box and his curling shot found the bottom corner.

Crusaders took control in the second half and their comeback was completed when Billy Joe Burns smashed home from 25 yards in the 62nd minute and Owens finally got his goal when he headed home after 74 minutes. Inbetween the goals Glentoran's Ciaran Caldwell was shown a second yellow card when he kicked the ball at a player who was down on the ground.

A fine afternoons entertainment at Seaview. Match highlights can be found by clicking here

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