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INVERNESS BACK IN EUROPE


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Cup Final Warm-Up

 

The Caley Jags have made a hastily arranged Cup Final warm-up ahead of the Celtic meeting as we have time to kill before the Scottish Cup Final. It's off to County Tyrone in Northern Ireland to face Dungannon Swifts. Who I hear you ask? Well, they are a Northern Irish, semi-professional football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the Irish League First Division in 1997. Dungannon earned promotion from Irish League First Division to the Premier Division in the 2002–03 season. They are currently trying to avoid relegation. The Swifts hail from Dungannon, County Tyrone and plays their home matches at Stangmore Park. Club colours are royal blue with white trim (home strip) and yellow with a red trim (away strip).

May be an image of coffee cup and textRELEGATION GROUP (bottom half of table)

 

 Team GP   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD   Pts
1   Glenavon  38 14 10 14 58 61 -3 52
2   Carrick Rangers  38 12 4 22 45 74 -29 40
3   Ballymena Utd  38 11 6 21 37 55 -18 39
4   Newry City  38 9 3 26 37 71 -34 30
5   Dungannon  38 9 3 26 28 84 -56 30
6   Portadown  38 6 5 27 29 88 -59 23

There's a Caley Jag mug on the road to Hampden>>>>>

Our own Immortal Howden Ender will take up the story with this preview for you. 

Well would you feckin "Adam and Eve" it - Inverness Caley Jags are back in Europe - albeit in a highly unlikely and unexpected friendly in Northern Ireland. On Saturday 20th May, two weeks prior to the biggest game in the clubs history, we run out onto Stangmore Park in County Tyrone, approximately 40 miles west of Belfast, to gain much needed game playing time but probably not in front of a potential 3K capacity crowd.

So WHY Dungannon Swifts do you ask? Probable reasons are that there were no other takers and that Dungannon are in a similar conundrum as ourselves. They are also running very late in their season with nobody to play!! They have just managed to attract Ballymacash Rangers but were defeated 3-2 although their goals by Cahal McGinty (where do I know that name from?) and Sam Anderson were extolled. We must be a bigger outfit as we have to pay £5 a head entrance fee whereas they only charged £3 for Ballymacash.

If you think that the SFL are inept - then just look at the situation with the NIFL and Warrenpoint Town. Due to the legal processes Swifts had been lying idle since beating Newry City in their final game of the season on April 29th, following on from beating Portadown 3-2 in a massive relegation game the previous week. Those wins should have set up the Swifts to take on Warrenpoint Town in a two legged Premiership Promotion/Relegation tie in early May. But the NIFL refused to grant a license for Warrenpoint to play in the Premiership in the 2023/24 season. But - of course - there is a lengthy appeals procedure and - you got it - Warrenpoint appealed!!

Warrenpoint admitted to an unpaid tax bill and repaid it. But the NIFL proceeded. There was even a suggestion that Annagh United should replace Warrenpoint but that was also appealed against. Anyway to cut a long story short the proposed new dates for the Swifts and Town to go into battle are Tuesday May 30th and Saturday June 3rd (why does that date mean something?). BUT that is only a possibility and it may go on for longer!!

And what about the history of Dungannon Swifts - well they have been in Europe twice. In the UEFA Cup in 2007/8 they went out to the famed Sudova Marijampole of Lithuania. They fared the same in the Intertoto Cup (remember that one!!) when they were beaten by the equally renowned Knattspyrnudeild Keflavik of Iceland.

Anyway the Swifts are managed by an old foe of ours - Dean Shiels of the Hibees, Sevco, Pars and Killie fame. Many will remember that he joined in some friendly banter with our own support. They do have two Jocks in their squad - a front man called Joe Moore and Darren Cole. Darren however was on loan from Glentoran and may now be on his hols. I am reliably informed that men to look out for are the defender Mayoma Aminashasun and another front man - Marc Welsh.

But this "find" only highlights how difficult it can be to arrange games at this time of the season. As the Swifts chairman - Keith Boyd - stated "We have players on holiday and others are going in the next few weeks". It is all very well getting together on a regular basis, maintaining and improving fitness levels, trying out new tactics, systems and ploys but having a competitive opposition is a major requirement. This may well be our last chance before the Cup Final!! So surely our starting X1 at Dungannon will be the starting X1 for the Cup Final? Or will Dodds try to fool the watching Celtic scouts? Will the second half be a substitute galore affair? Will both sides be instructed to 'go easy on each other'?

And what about the expense? Presumably the Costa del Tyrone journey will replace any Costa del Sol planning? Will we have another one or two "proper" run outs next week? Surely we could attract and rustle up a Highland League Select or even a local Junior Select? Only time will tell.

My good self, like many others, would probably have been travelling with more notice. A weekend in Northern Ireland is a tasty dish. But there are some going and may I take the opportunity of suggesting a visit to Feenys or McAleers. Have a swift "doddsie" for me please, cheers. :drinking06:

 

swifts.webp

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13 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Do teams from the United Kingdom compete in Europe ?        YES

Is the country of Northern Ireland situated in Continental Europe?       NO
 

 

 

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Finished 3-1.

Second half got very scrappy, few stood out but nothing spectacular. First half was much fine, definitely need to be better then that otherwise Celtic will spank us.

Was good to get to see the lads plays again. Looked like we had almost as many fans as Dungannon there.

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Pretty routine win.  I wouldn't read too much into the performance, had we needed to we had extra gears to go through.  Overall, we played well within ourselves giving all 21 players significant playing time and more importantly no injuries.

We raced into an early 2 goal lead with Harper and Duffy the beneficiaries of 2 more excellent Jay Henderson deliveries. We seemed to take our foot off the gas after this with a few players taking an extra touch or just playing at half pace.  Multiple changes at half time seemed to impact our rhythm and Dungannon's most dangerous player Scott finishing nicely.  This spurred a response and we got the 3rd within a minute through Samuels after a neat move from Carson and Shaw.  Ben Woods then somehow contrived to miss an utter sitter, it was pretty much an open goal yet he almost cleared the stand- a remarkable effort.  The final 30mins then petered out after the benches were emptied. 

Some observations from very close up.

Cameron Harper was a standout.  The main stand was just a few feet from the pitch and he really is some athlete. Great touch too.

Austin Samuels is struggling for confidence.  Just couldn't get into the game despite his goal and was give grief from a couple of team mates for a lack of effort.

David Carson covers every blade of grass. I love his desire and how he empties the tank.

I think Steven Boyd will struggle to make the cup final squad if everyone is fit.

Nice to see around a dozen ICT supporters at the ground along with some player families. The players and manager were also great with my son, really happy to chat and get photos so that made our day. 

 

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27 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Underwhelming in many ways

You are right but what is the club going to do with very few options?  This is where the Scottish set up is  a farce!

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1 hour ago, IBM said:

You are right but what is the club going to do with very few options?  This is where the Scottish set up is  a farce!

Perhaps they could arrange a friendly of the team v the kids that got tickets to the 'Biggest home game' as part of the promotion earlier this season. 

Looks like it's been forgotten about 🤷‍♂️

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An open training session at the stadium next weekend could be a good way to get families down to see the players and buy cup final merchandise. If there’s no friendly being played that’s a good way to kick off the cup final week. 
 

Are the council doing anything? Probably not which is a joke! They should be helping promote the final around town. 

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3 hours ago, RedCard said:

An open training session at the stadium next weekend could be a good way to get families down to see the players and buy cup final merchandise. If there’s no friendly being played that’s a good way to kick off the cup final week. 
 

Are the council doing anything? Probably not which is a joke! They should be helping promote the final around town. 

Aside from maybe putting some things out on social media for free I'm not sure what the council could do. Certainly nothing that actually costs anything at a time when they are cutting LS staff and PSA budgets, closing outdoor learning etc. 

Edited by Fraz
Fat fingers
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2 hours ago, Fraz said:

Aside from maybe putting some things out on social media for free I'm not sure what the council could do. Certainly nothing that actually costs anything at a time when they are cutting LS staff and PSA budgets, closing outdoor learning etc. 

Tbf I don't think Council have stepped us this time so far? 

They had a lot more going on in 2015 with displays etc. I think the shop in town was rent free and the open training at the bought rent free too. They also have the common good fund to utilise? 

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1 hour ago, old caley girl said:

Tbf I don't think Council have stepped us this time so far? 

They had a lot more going on in 2015 with displays etc. I think the shop in town was rent free and the open training at the bought rent free too. They also have the common good fund to utilise? 

Why should the Council step up at all they are after all the Highland Council and not Inverness District Council.

The clue is in the name any council funding is long gone.

Astonishing that some ICT fans think the club should be bank rolled by the local government especially when there has been so many budget constraints over the last twenty odd years.

Dougal

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It might be easier for the council (and others) to get behind the club if they were doing more themselves?

There's been nothing other than requests to buy tickets and merchandise on social media.  Where's the hype?

In 2015 the players were out and about in the city visiting businesses, schools and community groups.  There was fresh content in the papers every day.  Everywhere you went there was something ICTFC related.  The club have to be the catalyst for these things and not just sit back and expect everyone else to do it.

The relationship with the fans and the supports trust won't be helping, and we're not seeing much support from corporates either despite that apparently being a big focus!  Wonder why that is?

Sorry to say it, but the club are reaping exactly what they have sown over the last few seasons and have nobody to point the finger at other than themselves.

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3 hours ago, dougal said:

Why should the Council step up at all they are after all the Highland Council and not Inverness District Council.

The clue is in the name any council funding is long gone.

Astonishing that some ICT fans think the club should be bank rolled by the local government especially when there has been so many budget constraints over the last twenty odd years.

Dougal

No ones talking about being bankrolled but ICT are one of the biggest draws in the area even on a quiet midweek game and if it were County I’d expect the council to do the same. 
 

The club and council need to be closer and work together to make it an exciting and enjoyable build up to the final for fans and residents of the area. Some city centre presence like posters bunting etc wouldn’t cost much. I know the club have a space in the market which should be open soon. 
 

 

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