The last set of fixtures before Christmas starts tonight as Glentoran travel to Newry City. The Glens are hoping to get back to winning ways after a nine-game winless run. Darren Mullen’s men could do with some points on the board themselves as they’ve picked up seven points from the last twelve available and while that has moved them 4 points clear of the automatic relegation spot, they are still in the promotion/relegation play-off spot approaching the Christmas period.
The most interesting fixture this week takes place at Windsor Park as second-placed Linfield entertain third-placed Glenavon. Only one point separates both teams and a win for either side could see them occupying top spot on Christmas Day, but only if Ballymena slip up at home to Ards as well. Gary Hamilton’s side go into the game following a convincing win last week at home to Coleraine, while Linfield have had their last two games postponed due to the weather.
The full fixture list for this weekend is below (all matches kick off at 3:00pm on Saturday unless stated):
Newry City v Glentoran (Friday at 7:45pm)
Ballymena United v Ards
Coleraine v Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders v Warrenpoint Town
Institute v Cliftonville
Linfield v Glenavon
It’s been two weeks since we last were able to show you an updated league table so you can see how things are currently looking below:
1: Cameron/Keith O’D 48
3: Henry/Rodney/Bryan/Darren 46
7: Adrian 38
8: Keith F 37
Moving onto this week’s predictions we start with Darren:
Darren
Newry City 1-1 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-0 Ards
Coleraine 0-0 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 1-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-3 Cliftonville
Linfield 2-0 Glenavon
Henry
Newry City 0-2 Glentoran
Ballymena United 3-0 Ards
Coleraine 2-1 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 2-1 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-4 Cliftonville
Linfield 2-2 Glenavon
Rodney
Newry City 2-2 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-0 Ards
Coleraine 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 3-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-2 Cliftonville
Linfield 2-1 Glenavon
Adrian
Newry City 1-1 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-0 Ards
Coleraine 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 5-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-3 Cliftonville
Linfield 3-2 Glenavon
Keith O’D
Newry City 2-1 Glentoran
Ballymena United 3-1 Ards
Coleraine 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 1-1 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-4 Cliftonville
Linfield 1-0 Glenavon
Bryan
Newry City 0-1 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-1 Ards
Coleraine 1-1 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-2 Cliftonville
Linfield 1-1 Glenavon
Keith F
Newry City 0-2 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-1 Ards
Coleraine 0-1 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 1-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 0-2 Cliftonville
Linfield 2-2 Glenavon
Cameron
Newry City 1-2 Glentoran
Ballymena United 2-0 Ards
Coleraine 1-2 Dungannon Swifts
Crusaders 3-0 Warrenpoint Town
Institute 1-3 Cliftonville
Linfield 3-3 Glenavon
After last weekend’s wash out of most of the fixtures throughout Northern Ireland, here’s hoping the weather is onside for what is normally a great weekend for Irish League football directly prior to Christmas. Enjoy whatever game you’re heading to and as always if you agree or disagree with our panel let us know your own thoughts on Twitter @o_t_turnstile.
In the meantime, you can also read Henry’s thoughts on the season so far by clicking HERE or if you fancy a look at the Northern Irish Intermediate League you can read Bryan’s latest roundup HERE. We also cover the League of Ireland even in the off-season and this week Keith O’Dwyer takes a look at the latest transfers, in particular, the departure of a Sligo Rovers legend. You can read that by clicking HERE.
