OLD NEWS - March 2006
31st Mar 06. Irish Cup Semi-Final, Larne game - Think I'm right in saying that in 20 years we've only ever played Larne twice in the Irish Cup? One-nil (Gerry Mullan) in the 1987 Final, then 4-1 (Morrison (2), MacCartney & Bowers) in a 1991 Quarter-Final replay, after a 1-1 (Caskey) draw ... ahhh those were the days :-) Must seem a long way away for Larne ...
The Inver Park men (beaten 5-1 by Portadown in last years' final) will probably be glad of a welcome break from League business tomorrow. Although they look fairly safe from automatic relegation from the Premier League, they are stuck second-bottom in a head-to-head with Institute for that dreaded play-off spot. In the two league fixtures against ourselves alone this season they have shipped 8 goals (5 & 3), scoring just one in reply each time. Let's hope that form continues tomorrow eh? BIG improvement needed from the Glens if we are to reach yet another Irish Cup Final though, if we show up in the same guise we did against Shelbourne last Monday night we could finish up with major egg on our face and in grave danger of crashing out of European football next season! No Locky of course, suspended, but complacency aside ... SURELY TO GOD we have enough in our locker to see us through this one! FFS Glens give us something to smile about!
Oh and by the way - who's the left-winger on trial from Livingston ... ;-)
Match betting: Glentoran 2/5, Larne 13/2, and a draw 3/1.
To win the Cup: Linfield 4/7, Glentoran 13/8, Larne 20/1, & Bangor 33/1. All odds supplied by TOALS bookmakers
30th Mar 06. Better late than never ... HERE
29th Mar 06. Irish Cup Semi - Ballymac's bus for Saturdays' Irish Cup Semi-Final with Larne will leave the Wilgar Street clubrooms at 2.00pm. Please note - the club will NOT now be running a bus to next Mondays Setanta clash with Linfield.
McGibbon hangs up the boots - BBC Sport have today confirmed the rumour that Glens centre-half Pat McGibbon has indeed retired from top-flight football. Signed in June 2004, big Pat had still over a year to run on his Oval contract. HERE
27th Mar 06. Glentoran 0 Shelbourne 3 - Absolutely woeful, without a doubt the worst Glentoran side I've seen in a long long time. Nothing whatsoever to offer tonight, Elliot Morris man of the match once again - so easy it was pathetic!
25th Mar 06. Glentoran 1 Glenavon 0 - Up to 2nd in the table now after Portadown draw 0-0. Results and Table pages now updated. Match Betting: Glentoran 4/9, Glenavon 6/1, and a draw 14/5. All odds supplied by TOALS.
24th Mar 06. Hamilton signs - The second raid on Portadown in a week was confirmed this morning with news that former Northern Ireland striker Gary Hamilton has signed a 2 year Full-Time Professional deal at the Oval, with an option of a 12 month extension. Last one out shut the gates!
23rd Mar 06. Castlereagh GSC Quiz - the draw ... HERE
22nd Mar 06. Glentoran Community Trust update ... HERE
Darren Lockhart ... has received a one match ban in the latest round of IFA suspensions, beginning Monday. He now misses out on the Irish Cup semi-final tie with Larne on April 1st.
Kyle Neill signs? - Word today is that Portadown midfielder Kyle Neill has, as has been rumoured for weeks, signed for the Glens from the start of next season ... as Ronnie McFalls' team continues to self-destruct!
Update - Kyle Neill has signed a 2 year contract starting next season.
19th Mar 06. Glentoran 1 (Reid) Derry City 0 - Only 2 points between 1st and 4th now in the group with 2 left to play.
Derry City game - Match Betting: Glentoran 9/4, Derry City 11/10, and a draw 11/5 - kick-off 7.45pm.
16th Mar 06. Glentoran 3 Newry City 2 - Eight minutes in and thanks to McDonagh and a Nicky penalty we're 2-0 up and strolling, then on 25 minutes it's 2-1 and we're back to Primary School stuff and hoofin it into the sky again! Locky then gets sent off on 55 minutes for an awful tackle, we go 2-2 about 15 minutes after that, then I shake my head and thankfully have to go home early. I have it on good authority Gavin Melaugh won it for us with 10 minutes to go after Newry goalie Robinson could only parry substitute Jamie Reids shot. Three points clear of Portadown in second now, but with a game more played. But boy was that hard work. League Table page now updated at the link above.
Oh by the way, spotted Tony Whitehead of the Strategic Investment Board at the Oval (the man responsible for the new National Stadium Project). Met him with Rest in East a while back ... must give you a bell Tony and catch up ;-)
Newry City game - Given recent developments tonights game should be rather interesting shouldn't it? Roy Coyle makes his first return to the Oval since his departure 6 weeks ago, looking for his first win, indeed his first league goal, since taking over 'Windy's' job at Newry City 3 games ago! What would you give to be a fly on the wall for this one eh ;-) Worth remembering too that Newry have lost just one league game from their last seven, so the Glens will need to play an awful lot better (understatement of the year) than they did at Derry City the other night if we are to leapfrog Portadown into second place in the table. The Ports are at 4th placed Dungannon on Saturday. 6 games left after this ...
15th Mar 06. Glens AGM now confirmed for April 12th ... when amongst other things, Ted Brownlee, Jim Rodgers, and Cecil McKeague all stand for re-election to the Board. (Jeeeeze, we're not half milkin this Umbro deal now eh ;-)
Gary Hamilton ... has been told to sling his hook at Portadown. So are the rumours true he's coming to the Oval?
14th Mar 06. Rule number one ... If you're going to release some really bad news, always try to slip it into a really good news story and maybe no-one will notice. Taken from the Official site ...
"Current Irish Premier League champions Glentoran are delighted to announce the securing of a 4-year kit sponsorship agreement with sportswear giants "Umbro", effective from the commencement of season 2006/07 ... "
"Director for Football, Tom Dick stated "This is a major coup for the club partnering such a highly respected sportswear brand who are dedicated to the manufacture of quality products within the football arena ... blah blah blah"
If you're really really clever you'll be able to work out the good and bad bits for yourselves ;-)
Derry City 3 Glentoran 1 - Absolute bloody shambles ... and that was before the match even started!
If this team can somehow salvage a UEFA Cup spot out of this awful season, I for one will be absolutely ecstatic!
Match Report now moved HERE
13th Mar 06. Castlereagh Quiz - This years quiz at the Castlereagh GSC is upon us once again, the winners taking home £200! An initial two heats will be held on Tuesday 4th April (unless there is an Irish Cup Replay), and Monday 10th April, with the Final itself taking place on Thursday 13th April. An entry fee for teams of 4 will be £5 payable on the night.
Please enter asap as we will need tme to make the draw
11th Mar 06. Portadown 1 Armagh City 2, and Ballymena 1 Ards 1 ... to see the Glens now 7 points ahead of the Braidmen, and level on points and games played with 2nd placed Portadown but just a single goal difference worse off.
10th Mar 06. Larne game - Match betting: Larne 9/2, Glentoran 4/7, and a draw 5/2. All odds supplied by TOALS.
Larne 1 - 3 Glentoran. Dungannon drew 1-1 tonight at the swamp to drop to 6 points behind us in 4th place.
Glentoran Soccer School - Due to unforeseen circumstances the restarting of the Soccer School has had to be put back a week to 19th March 2006 (Same times apply)
Chris Walker Benefit - Night at the Races and Disco. The Hillfoot GSC have kindly stepped in to help organize a night at the races to fill the void left by the postponement of the Sportsman's dinner (new date still to be confirmed). The night of the races will take place in the Hillfoot clubrooms on the Castlereagh Road on Saturday 25th March. Doors open at 7 30 pm with the first race due to start at 8 pm. Entrance fee is £3 and is payable at the door. A disco catering for all ages will follow the races with a late bar available.
Anybody wanting to sponsor a race or an individual horse can do so by contacting myself on 07886337857.
Cost of sponsoring a race is £25 and a horse £5.
William Cameron, Secretary
9th Mar 06. Fancy a treat for Mothers Day? The Ballymac will be open on Sunday 26th March for a special Mothers Day Lunch with entertainment. The clubrooms will open at 1pm for Lunch at 1.30pm, with music then from 3pm til 6pm. Tickets for the day cost £12.50 each - simply contact any member of the club for more details. No children under 10 can be allowed.
Buses - Tomorrow nights bus for Larne (£5) departs the Wilgar Street clubrooms at 6.45pm. Monday's bus for Derry City (£8) is leaving at 5.30pm. Just turn up at the club for both.
4th Mar 06. Glentoran 2 Port EEEEdown 0 - Robbed ... ? Ronnie McFall may think so, but at the end of the day it's all about putting the ball in the net isn't it ... and we did it twice!! We've played better, but on commitment alone today nobody can say this side didn't deserve to be in the Irish Cup semi-final. Two goals from Chris Morgan (the second a cracker) was enough to see the wee Cock n' Hens progress to a semi-final date with Larne, and the very real prospect of another 'big two' Nationwide Irish Cup Final - Glentoran v linfield. (but shhhhh ... don't mention the fact the upstairs number crunchers will be counting the £30k plus coming the clubs' way should we now manage to beat Larne, assuming of course Bangor succumb to the great unwashed in the other semi-final ... courtesy of the UEFA Cup)!
3rd Mar 06. Portadown game - Irish Cup Quarter-Final replay 2002, Portadown 4 Glentoran 3 after a 1-1 draw. Irish Cup Semi-Final 2003, Glentoran 6 Portadown 1. Irish Cup Semi-Final replay 2005, Portadown 1 Glentoran 0 after a 0-0 draw ... I reckon that makes it our turn then ;-) For the Ports to be our 'bogie' team though it's worth remembering, that in this season when we have been far from our best, having played them twice they have yet to beat us! 2-1 to us in the League Cup Semi at the swamp, then 0-0 in the League down at their place. (Incidentally, last time we beat them in the League was over 3 years ago)! No matter, Irish Cup it is again tomorrow, and of course we're well overdue ... having only won the competition 3 times in the last 5 years ;-) What a lift a win tomorrow would give to our season ...
Match Betting: Glentoran 6/4, Portadown 7/4, and a draw 2/1. All odds supplied by TOALS bookmakers.
BallymacGSC ... invite you to a night of entertainment at our Wilgar Street clubrooms tomorrow Saturday 4th March. Renowned hypnotist Gareth Fulton will be the entertainment on the evening, with music following on til late. Tickets are available, but admittance can be by gained by a 'pay at the door' £6.00. Contact any member for further details.
1st Mar 06. Glentoran 3 Linfield 3 - Sorry for the late update folks, been away a while. Gimme a day or so ...
