Shermanez

I spend Saturday 30th April watching the Premier Division Relegation Play Off fixture between Newry Town and Donegal Celtic at the Newry Showgrounds. It’s the first leg of two and Donegal will be the happiest having held the Premier Division side to a 1-1 draw. John Joe Maguire opened the scoring but a late goal from Paul McVeigh is enough equalise. Donegal win the second leg 2-1 and gain promotion into the Premier Division with Newry Town relegated.

Tobermore United are also celebrating having claimed the Second Division title and with it promotion into the First Division.

At the club, Mark Glendinning announces that he’ll be retiring from the game at the end of the season. The 34 year-old’s current deal comes to a close in June and with no new offer on the table, he feels its time to go rather than look for a new club. The same goes for defender Gary Smyth who’ll leave The Oval as a Glentoran Great with six years loyal service.

We’re given a welcome boost prior to the Cup Final with Darren Armour collecting the Smirnoff Irish Premier Division ‘Player of the Season’ award from the Irish FA. The rest of the awards look like this:

Irish Football Association Yearly Awards 2004/2005

Northern Irish Premier Division ‘Player of the Year’: 1st – Darren Armour (Glentoran) 2nd – Vinny Arkins (Portadown) 3rd – Wayne Patterson (Bangor).

Northern Irish Premier Division ‘Young Player of the Year’: 1st – Robert McLaughlin (Bangor) 2nd – Michael Ward (Omagh) 3rd – Mark Moore (Glenavon).

Northern Irish Premier Division ‘Top Goalscorer’: 1st – Darren Armour (Glentoran) 2nd – Andy Smith (Glentoran) 3rd – Shea Campbell (Ballymena).

Northern Irish Premier Division ‘Manager of the Year’: 1st – Marty Quinn (Coleraine) 2nd – Stan Ginozola (Glentoran) 3rd – Joe McAcree (Dungannon Swifts).

Shermanez

Sat 07.05.05
Coleraine Vs Glentoran – Windsor Park, Belfast
Irish Cup Final.

Glentoran 3-5-2: Elliott Morris – Jodie Hill, Sean Ward, Gary Smyth – Paul Leeman, Scott Young, Gavin Melaugh, Darren Lockhart – John McAuley, Darren Armour, Rick Adair.

Weather: Dry, 11°C

2:55pm

KL – “Hello and welcome to BBC Belfast. Its Cup Final day and what a cracker it’s set up to be. Coleraine and Glentoran had a titanic battle for the honour of the Premier Division title this season with Coleraine coming out on top. Today, Stan Ginozola’s Glentoran have the chance to restore a bit of pride with victory in the Irish Cup Final, the only trophy Stan Ginozola has yet to collect during his impressive time in the Irish game. With me is former Northern Ireland U21 boss Michael Stewart and we’ll be giving you full match commentary live from Windsor Park. Michael, what are your thoughts on the outcome of today’s game?

MS – “Hello football fans. Well it’s set up to be one of the greatest Cup Finals in recent times. We all know what happened here last season, when Ballinamallard United from the First Division upset all the odds by beating Glentoran to take the trophy for the first time in their history. Glentoran will be desperate to win this one but with both Chris Walker and Andy Smith missing it’ll be a tough task. Gary Smyth is a fine replacement for Walker though and with this being his last appearance before retirement he’ll be wanting to go out on a high.

The radio boys had it just about right. Gary Smyth and John McAuley were both drafted into the line-up and I was convinced they wouldn’t let me down. At five to three referee John Ferry – the finest Irish referee in the country – gave us ‘the knock’ and after a few bellows of encouragement from big Gary Smyth and Elliott Morris, we were out into the tunnel. Coleraine were emerging from the away dressing room further down the corridor and we met in the middle. There were no kind words of encouragement here, this was war. We were kept waiting for a few moments before we got the nod and we were making our way out onto the Windsor Park turf.

The atmosphere was fantastic. The papers had been predicting a complete sell out of 18,500 and they’d got it spot on. There didn’t look to a spare seat in the house. After the formalities, the game was soon underway but we got off to a disastrous start with Rory Hamill meeting a Gerry Flynn cross to head Coleraine into a third minute lead. It was just what we didn’t want.

Much of the first half belonged to Coleraine, with Elliott Morris seeing most of the action down at his end. Whilst they weren’t creating chance after chance, they were certainly in charge possession-wise. Morris saved from Gary Woods but we were soon two goals behind. Clanachan had the ball out wide; his through ball found Woods and his cross was finished off at the near post for Hamill’s second of the afternoon.

I glanced along the touchline to see Marty Quinn punching the air in delight. His assistant Jimmy Calvin flashed me a look and I could see the thoughts of a league and cup double flashing bright. The way we’d started the game, they deserved it. We’d be – for want of a better phrase – **** poor, and we didn’t look like improving any time soon.

The plan to get back into the game was relatively simple; don’t concede and make sure we were next on the scoresheet. It sounded great in my head but whether we’d put it to practice remains to be seen. Thankfully it worked and John McAuley’s cheeky chip left Ingham grasping at thin air. Half-time arrived with a 2-1 scoreline.

The game continued to simmer in the second period, and we were soon back on level terms with McAuley’s second goal in the 52nd minute. Scott Young released the youngster through on goal and after his first shot was saved by Ingham, he fairly smashed the ball into the goal and charged off to celebrate with the Glentoran supporters, grateful to be level despite the woeful start to the game.

But McAuley was far from finished and Hamill had burst clear from the halfway line to shoot past Morris to restore Coleraine’s lead with his hat-trick goal, he met a Rick Adair cross from the left to beat Ingham with the goal to complete a hat-trick of his own and the goal was poised to be a real classic. I knew it could go one of three ways, which with just twenty-five minutes remaining, was really something. Either one side would press on and win it, the lead would continue to change hands and the more fortunate side would take the trophy, or we’d be facing extra-time and a possible replay.

I glanced at my watch, fifteen to play. I still fancied us as since we equalised we’d been the better side. McAuley collected the ball out wide, deep having tracked back to make a challenge. Scott Young and Rick Adair had pushed on and were streaking clear of their markers. McAuley composed himself and hit a searching ball towards Adair. Ingham came out for the pushed, scuffed it and ended up in no-man’s land. Adair was in. He half slipped, regained his footing and tapped the ball into the empty net. 4-3 Glentoran!

Now the game was ours. Coleraine threw everything forward and as is often the case with his cruel, cruel game, we hit them on the break. Adair went down the left, cutting the ball back to Leeman. The midfielder danced past Gary Woods into space, his through ball found McAuley. One touch… a shot… goal. Ingham had no chance and McAuley had his fourth of the afternoon. Incredible. I checked my watch for what seemed like the millionth time of the afternoon. Ninety-two minutes, well into injury time.

Coleraine had the ball back on the spot for the restart within seconds but it was to no avail. John Ferry called an end to the proceedings almost immediately. We’d done it! The Irish Cup was ours! What follows seems like a blur but after checking back on the video I can clearly see a black blur flash up the screen towards John McAuley. I recognised the limp. It was me. The Glentoran supporters began to party, a party that wouldn’t end until well into the early hours. We might have missed out on the league but this almost made up for it.

Coleraine 3 – Glentoran 5
Goals: Hamill 1-0, Hamill 2-0, McAuley 2-1, McAuley 2-2, Hamill 3-2, McAuley 3-3, Adair 3-4, McAuley 3-5.
Attendance: 18,483
MoM: John McAuley (Glentoran) – Four goals and the match ball in a game that McAuley will remember for a long, long time.

Shermanez

The scenes back in Belfast upon our arrival at The Oval were astonishing, something we hadn’t seen since last year’s league title win. Supporters lined the streets and the team coach made its approach – we even had to wait whilst the police cleared a path into the ground. The players and staff had already started a party of their own with the champagne flowing from the moment we returned to the dressing room where I’d been given the traditional soaking before the television cameras.

It wasn’t long before the players were reminding me of a promise I made back in December, “win the Irish Cup and I’ll take you all abroad!” Stafford Reynolds made sure I didn’t have to splash out, paying for the trip out of his own pocket. We were in for an action packed two weeks, but I’ll tell you more about that next season.

Shermanez

Honours 2004/2005

Northern Irish League Premier Division
Winners: Coleraine
Runners-Up: Glentoran
Relegation: Newry Town

Northern Irish League First Division
Promoted: Crusaders
Runners-Up: Donegal Celtic – Beat Newry Town 3-1 on aggregate to win promotion
Relegation: Ballymoney United

Northern Irish League Second Division
Promoted: Tobermore United
Runners-Up: Annagh United – Beaten 4-1 on aggregate by Moyola Park
Relegation: East Belfast

Irish Cup
Winners: [b] Glentoran[/i]
Runners-Up: Coleraine

Northern Irish League Cup
Winners: Glentoran
Runners-Up: Cliftonville

Northern Irish Intermediate League Cup
Winners: Banbridge
Runners-Up: Chimney Corner

Northern Irish County Antrim Shield
Winners: Glentoran
Runners-Up: Crusaders

Northern Irish Steel & Sons Cup
Winners: Crusaders
Runners-Up: Portstewart

European Champions’ League
Winners: Inter Milan
Runners-Up: Newcastle United

UEFA Cup
Winners: Barcelona
Runners-Up: Liverpool

UEFA Coefficients
48th: Northern Ireland – ECC 1, UC 2, INTER 0, Coef. 1.16

FIFA World Rankings

1st: Brazil – 1021
6th: England – 844
32nd: Republic of Ireland – 705
60th: Scotland – 591
62nd: Wales – 589
79th: Northern Ireland – 518

***

Glentoran Supporters’ ‘Player of the Year’:
Darren Armour

Shermanez

And that's me finished. Don't have any time to write anymore and I had this saved up so it didn't seem right not to post it. See you around!

retired_bbcarr

sad to see this finished, but a big :thup: to what has been a thoroughly enjoyable story