N.Ireland premier 6/7 january

[Finn McCool]

Friday, January 06, 2006
Premiership, Northern Ireland
8:45 PM	Portadown 1.85	X 3.25	Cliftonville 3.75	+4
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Premiership, Northern Ireland
4:00 PM	Ards 7.25	X 3.50	Glentoran 1.45	+4
4:00 PM	Armagh City 2.10	X 3.20	Larne 3.10	+4
4:00 PM	Ballymena 2.50	X 3.20	Newry 2.50	+4
4:00 PM	Dungannon Swifts 1.95	X 3.25	Glenavon 3.45	+4
4:00 PM	Limavady 2.40	X 3.20	Loughgall 2.60	+4
4:00 PM	Linfield 1.20	X 5.50	Institute 10.50
4:00 PM	Lisburn Distillery 2.50	X 3.20	Coleraine 2.50	+4

================================================== =======

up to date league table .

		Home					Away
	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Linfield	16	8	0	0	33	5	7	1	0	32	7	53	46
2	Portadown	16	5	2	1	25	11	4	2	2	10	9	15	31
3	Glentoran	16	4	2	2	12	8	5	2	1	16	5	15	31
4	Ballymena	16	4	0	4	10	13	5	0	3	10	12	-5	27
5	Dungannon Swifts	16	5	1	1	17	8	2	4	3	14	16	7	26
6	Cliftonville	16	1	3	3	5	8	6	2	1	16	8	5	26
7	Newry	16	5	0	4	15	12	2	2	3	11	12	2	23
8	Limavady	16	1	4	2	10	12	4	1	4	13	15	-4	20
9	Glenavon	16	1	2	5	6	20	4	3	1	13	10	-11	20
10	Loughgall	16	4	0	5	12	14	2	1	4	8	9	-3	19
11	Coleraine	16	2	3	4	6	11	3	1	3	17	20	-8	19
12	Lisburn Distillery	16	4	0	4	13	17	1	3	4	8	10	-6	18
13	Armagh City	16	2	2	3	9	9	3	0	6	10	22	-12	17
14	Institute	16	1	3	5	16	24	3	0	4	12	16	-12	15
15	Larne	16	2	3	4	15	17	0	3	4	7	22	-17	12
16	Ards	16	2	0	5	7	16	1	0	8	8	18	-19	9

[Finn McCool]

Some good news for my hometown team with all our money problems.



Printable version

McAuley poised for move to Crewe

Gareth McAuley is poised for a move to Championship club Crewe Lincoln City defender Gareth McAuley is set to join Championship side Crewe. The two clubs have agreed a fee of £150,000 for the Northern Ireland international, who will move to Gresty Road provided he agrees personal terms. "Gareth and his agent have been informed and both appear to be happy," Lincoln's chairman of football Ray Trew told his club's website. McAuley, 26, joined Lincoln from Coleraine in 2004 and has scored eight goals in his 60 league games. Irish League club Coleraine, who are currently in administration, will receive almost £19,000 from a sell-on agreement if McAuley completes the move.

[MickeyPaul]

I was just about to say Portadown were looking a darn good bet till I spied Cliftonville's away stats. Amazing difference between their home and away record. Any idea why that is Finn? Portadown do look strong on paper and Cliftonville have just lost 0-1 to the bottom side:

BBC:

Cliftonville 0-1 Ards
Basement club Ards claimed their first Carnegie Premier League away win of the season with a surprise victory at Solitude on Monday.

Ards keeper Ian Lester made a superb save to keep out a Gary Kennedy shot before Reds striker Nathan McConnell fired wide after being put clear.

Andrew Waterworth scored the 76th minute winner, netting after keeper Ben Moane fumbled Jason Hill's shot.

John Bailey nearly made it 2-0 when his 84th minute strike hit the crossbar.

The win leaves George Neill's side three points behind relegation rivals Larne, who lost 2-1 against Ballymena.

Cliftonville went into the game on the back of three straight wins but the defeat takes the north Belfast club down two places to sixth.

Is this one worth looking into deeper?

[Finn McCool]

HI Mickey looking first at Portadown i see bet 365 has them @ 1.72 i must say i agree with you reguarding Cliftonville their home record is like Glenavon's a mystery, then again they both have good away records .What i will say is that of there are 8/10 teams who are capable of any outcome when they play each other.Going back to the Port's game on friday night i fancy them strongly they are reliable at home and allround are a better/stronger team than C'Ville i looked at their site and they are expecting to field the same team that won easily at Newry last week,C'ville as you pointed out lost to Ards (fu#ked my bet) last week after winning 3 on the trot.

I see bet365 have Linfield down to 1.10 i feel that will be the norm from now
on as their is no one capable of beating them .Everything is gooing for them biggest support in the league ave attendance 3/4,000. supporters clubs all over the province and as they own windsor park the I.F.A. payes them a good rent for international games so money no object just go our and sign the best players and the other teams struggle to keep pace.

Glentoran from east Belfast carry the 2nd best support ave att 2,000 are in the midst of a injury crisis 6/7 first teamers crocked,they are struggling at the moment and havn't won in 6 starts . They play Linfield in the next 2 weeks in a Co Antrim shield semi this is a good chance to get on L'field at a reasonable price again i will post on this .
Portadown are at present the best of the rest their late chairman a millionare left a million quid in a trust fund and the club benifit with the annual interest on this appox 10% so that keeps the wolf from the door with them.
My own home team Coleraine up to last season neck and neck with Ports as 3/4 top teams have collapsed and are in finicial diffs just staying out of the bottom 3/4 would give them this season to rebuild.
Ballymena have invested with new managerTommy Wright the former N'castle and Man City goalkeeper he has been sorting out the wheat from the chaf and they can make a impact but are inconsistent.
Of the other clubs i see Newry as the most likely to challenge the top 4/5 teams the rest are as i said unreliable and inconsistent with average players

FRIDAY NIGHT tip # PORTADOWN @1.72 bet365

[MickeyPaul]

Portadown are 1.85 @ betandwin btw - I'm going to take the bet365 price though. Cheers Finn and good luck.

edit: no they aint, it's 1.75 now - by God, betbase is getting bloody slow.

[kompressaur]

Saturday, January 07, 2006
Intermediate League 1st Division
3:00 PM Ballymoney United 3.75 X 3.35 Bangor 1.80
3:00 PM HW Welders 2.40 X 3.10 Carrick Rangers 2.60
3:00 PM Moyola Park 5.00 X 3.60 Crusaders 1.55

Intermediate League 2nd Division
3:00 PM Chimney Corner 2.80 X 3.20 PSNI 2.15
3:00 PM Dergview 2.00 X 3.15 Brantwood 3.15
3:00 PM Oxford United Stars 2.35 X 3.10 Annagh United 2.60

GMT +1

all odds from-

[MickeyPaul]

We should have paid more attention to Cliftonville's amazing away record. They're 0-1 up. Bastards.

Ye of little faith Mickey! 1-1 now - come on the Portacabins!

Wooo, 2-1 up now...... hang in there lads....

3-1.............

[Finn McCool]

Shamrock Park - 2000 GMT

Portadown 3 (Clarke 45, Boyle 54, Baker 61) Cliftonville 1 (McConnell 21)


Saturday after looking at latest team news

Dungannon @1.95 can follow up on a good home win over Glentoran despite Glenavon having a reasonable away record but were whipped by Linfield last week.
LImavady @2.40 win/3.20 draw have strenthened up in the past week with a couple of signings can get a result at home i feel.
Armagh @ 2.10 can beat lowly Larne who are missing 2/3 with injuries and have a small squad.
LINFIELD not worth betting on at this price ,Glentoran have a host of injuries but must win although i'm not confident with them. Ballymena should beat Newry at home but are a dodgy lot, Distillery and my lot C'raine are both in the doldrums could go either way a tap in or flukey goal will win this failing that a low score draw.

In the intermediate league Bangor 1.80 and Crusaders 1.55 are the picks.

[MickeyPaul]

Thanks for the Portadown info, Finn. Larvly.

[kompressaur]

And well done yourself Mick

Anyone got any views on todays games and Finn's picks? Nice one last night Finn and good luck today mate.

[Finn McCool]

SATURDAY 7, JANUARY

ARDS 0-1 GLENTORAN

ARMAGH CITY 1-2 LARNE

BALLYMENA UNITED 0-0 NEWRY CITY

DUNGANNON SWIFTS 6-0 GLENAVON

LIMAVADY UNITED 0-1 LOUGHGALL

LINFIELD 2-0 INSTITUTE
LISBURN DISTILLERY 1-2 COLERAINE

Mayola Pk 2 Crusaders 3
Ballymoney 0 Bangor 4

[Lumberjack]

Finn, only 2-0 for Linfield against Institute? Is this a sign of complacency given their 15 point lead? Are they likely to start easing off in the coming weeks or is this a factor we can disregard?
Regards.

[Finn McCool]

Naw i 'm sure Lumberjack the blues were busy trying to set up Glenn Ferguson their leading scorer with the chance to get his 450 th goal in the Irish league.

He did manage this with a last minute header Institute have a new manager and he has tightened up the defence,the previous boss was a French man who brought over a number of his country men but when they got a couple of goals down they quit .

Linfield 2-0 Institute

Glenn Ferguson headed Linfield's second near the end Linfield restored their 15-points lead in the Carnegie Premier with their 13th consecutive league victory. David Jeffrey's men went into the lead on 42 minutes when Paul McAreavey fired in a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Institute had debutant Seamus Fanthorpe dismissed for two yellow card offences in the 84th minutes. Then striker Glenn Ferguson headed number two near the end for his 450th career goal and 200th for Linfield. Linfield deserved the win but took some time to crack a resolute Institute. McAreavey's breakthrough free left keeper John Connelly rooted to the ground. Ferguson should have made it two in a one-on-one with Connelly but scuffed his finishing shot wide. Oran Kearney then had an effort blocked by Fanthorpe. The clincher eventually came on 90 minutes when Ferguson got on the end of Mark Picking's cross.