(Northern) Irish Premiership
Shamrock Park, Portadown
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 573
Match Rating: 3
It proved somewhat of a challenge to find a game on my latest day trip to Northern Ireland, with the Ryanair flight from Stansted now timed later to arrive at Belfast City Airport at 13.25, and the only match in the top two divisions in the Belfast area today, Linfield at home to Crusaders, was postponed due to international call-ups. The only possibilities left were a trip to Carrickfergus to watch Carrick Rangers in the Championship (2nd tier), Glenavon (although the train would only arrive in Lurgan 4 minutes before kick-off) and therefore I settled on heading for Portadown, which was reached by catching a bus to Belfast city centre, and then an intercity train bound for Dublin to Portadown. A very brisk 20 minute walk from Portadown station to Shamrock Park saw me taking my seat just as the teams were walking onto the pitch .
Shamrock Park is quite an odd ground currently, in the process of long-term development, although no building works are currently evident. It is an all-seater stadium but with several unused areas. The stadium used to house a stock car circuit, but this has built on and so spectators are close to the pitch. Along one length of the pitch is a very modern stand which offers excellent views of the action with no pillars to get in the way. An odd feature of this length is that there is no fence or railings of any kind bordering the pitch, quite unique in my experiences across many leagues and levels of football. Behind one of the goals is an fairly small stand set some way behind the goal which houses away supporters. Opposite the main stand there is the only traditional stand which used to be the main stand housing the changing rooms, but today just a handful of spectators used this stand. The stand is quite small - the other half of this length just has an overgrown grass bank. Plans are apparently in place to demolish this old stand for a new modern stand like the current main stand. Behind the other goal is also a disused and out of bounds area - here too there are plans for a new stand. If all the plans come to fruition, Shamrock Park should be quite an impressive facility. The programme was a very reasonable effort, in full colour with interesting articles and stats to read, as well as a copious amount of photos of recent match action, although maybe on the short side with just 20 pages.
This game was between two teams in the lower reaches of the table. Portadown had gained four points from their opening four games, and in midweek, they had a quite bizarre game against Premiership newcomers, Donegal Celtic, falling 0-2 behind, before hitting back with four goals, only to concede two goals in added on time at the end of the game to draw 4-4. Portadown are a decent side, finalists in the Irish Cup last season, and they beat Skonto Riga in the Europa League this season and were unfortunately to go out by one goal on aggregate in the next round - a very decent showing compared to how most Northern Irish clubs fare in European competitions. As for Coleraine, the season has been an absolute shocker so far, and unexpectedly so. Traditionally one of the strongest teams outside of Belfast, they threatened to challenge right at the top of the league last season before falling away badly. However, they have opened this season with five straight defeats, and have yet to even score a goal. They are a better side than that, and conceding only 9 goals in those five matches points to a team that haven't been outclassed, but the longer the poor run continues, confidence will be destroyed and so points are needed on the board as soon as possible if they are to avoid a catastrophic season.
Not for the first time, I left glorious sunshine behind in south-east England to be greeted by drizzly rain in Northern Ireland, and to match, the game itself was quite a tepid affair between two teams clearly lacking in confidence. The first half was lacking in real clear-cut chances and a goalless scoreline at half-time was no surprise. However, eight minutes into the second half, Portadown took the lead when a low driven free-kick into the six yard box by former Charlton youngster Neil McCafferty was turned into his own net by Paul Brown - evidence of when a team's luck is down, it stays down. It was difficult to see Coleraine recovering from this setback given their current plight, and although they battled gainly, they carried precious little threat in the final third and the game was as good as over when Portadown scored their second on 69 minutes when the goalkeeper was beaten to a ball at the edge of the area by former Millwall striker, Kevin Braniff, who passed the ball into the empty net from a tight angle. Coleraine did actually hit the woodwork twice, but in truth Portadown held out for a comfortable and deserved victory to leave Coleraine still pointless and goalless, four points adrift at the foot of the table.
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