The Danske Bank Premiership is back!!!!!
It seems like an age since Crusaders lifted the Irish Cup with a 3-0 win over Ballinamallard at Windsor Park in May but tonight domestic football in Northern Ireland is finally back when Mick McDermott’s Glentoran side travel to Mourneview Park to take on Gary Hamilton’s Glenavon.
It’s been three seasons in a row since Glentoran finished in the top six of the Premiership table, a far cry from the glory days of the 23 times league champions, but with a new owner the helm of the East Belfast side and the promise of new investment could things finally been on the turn at The Oval?
Institute’s preparations for the season hit a bump in the road last week when manager John Quigg resigned from his post. Quigg only arrived at the north-west side with two games left of last season to replace Paddy McLaughlin who was appointed Cliftonville manager. To make matters worse for Stute thay couldn’t have asked for a tougher start to the season as tomorrow they are Belfast bound to take on champions Linfield.
Elsewhere Larne return to the top division of football in Northern Ireland for the first time in 11 years after comfortably winning the Championship last season. Tiernan Lynch has continued to strengthen his squad following promotion and has added Johnny McMurray and Albert Watson to his panel from Ballymena United and also joining the club is former Arsenal midfielder Mark Randall.
This week’s full fixture list is as follows, all games kick off tomorrow at 15:00 unless otherwise stated:-
Glenavon v Glentoran (tonight at 19:45)
Coleraine v Cliftonville
Crusaders v Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts v Ballymena United
Larne v Warrenpoint Town
Linfield v Institute
Also returning this weekend is our Danske Bank Premiership Prediction League, with all our writers taking part for the bragging rights each week of predicting the six Premiership fixtures taking place each week. Last season’s winner was Henry and he will be back again this season to try and reclaim his crown.
Also this week our writers will be predicting their league winners, League and Irish Cup winners, who they think will be relegated, top goalscorer and the seasons surprise package for us to look back on at the end of the season.
Up first this week is defending champion, Henry. As always our writers will get three points for guessing the correct result and a point for the correct outcome.
Henry
Glenavon 1-3 Glentoran
Coleraine 2-2 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 0-1 Ballymena United
Larne 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 3-0 Institute
Crusaders 4-0 Carrick Rangers
League winners – Linfield
Irish Cup winners – Cliftonville
League Cup winners – Crusaders
Relegated – Institute
Top scorer – Joe Gormley
Surprise package – Glentoran to push ahead of Glenavon and Coleraine
Darren
Glenavon 1-3 Glentoran
Coleraine 0-1 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Ballymena United
Larne 5-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 4-0 Institute
Crusaders 3-0 Carrick Rangers
League Winners – Linfield
Irish Cup Winners – Glentoran
League Cup winners – Crusaders
Relegated – Carrick
Top scorer – Andrew Waterworth
Surprise package – Larne
Cameron
Glenavon 1-1 Glentoran
Coleraine 1-3 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Ballymena United
Larne 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 4-0 Institute
Crusaders 3-0 Carrick Rangers
League winners – Linfield
Irish Cup winners – Linfield
League Cup winners – Larne
Relegated – Institute
Top scorer – Andrew Waterworth
Surprise package – Coleraine (to drop out of the top six)
Rodney
Glenavon 1-1 Glentoran
Coleraine 1-2 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Ballymena United
Larne 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 3-0 Institute
Crusaders 4-0 Carrick Rangers
League champions – Linfield (heart ruling head, will be very close with the Crues…)
Irish Cup winners – Crusaders
League Cup winners- Cliftonville
Relegated – Carrick Rangers
Top scorer – Joe Gormley
Surprise package: Glentoran to finish in the top 6 (though I hope I’m wrong!!)
Bryan
Glenavon 1-2 Glentoran
Coleraine 0-2 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Ballymena United
Larne 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 2-0 Institute
Crusaders 3-0 Carrick Rangers
League winners – Linfield
Irish Cup winners – Crusaders
League Cup winners – Glentoran
Relegated – Carrick Rangers
Top scorer – Andrew Waterworth
Surprise package – Glenavon (surprisingly bad)
Adrian
Glenavon 1-1 Glentoran
Coleraine 1-1 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Ballymena United
Larne 5-1 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 2-0 Institute
Crusaders 5-0 Carrick Rangers
League winners – Linfield
Irish Cup winners – Crusaders
League Cup winners – Crusaders
Relegated – Warrenpoint
Top scorer – David McDaid
Surprise package – Glentoran (finally getting into top 6)
Keith
Glenavon 1-2 Glentoran
Coleraine 0-0 Cliftonville
Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Ballymena United
Larne 3-0 Warrenpoint Town
Linfield 4-0 Institute
Crusaders 3-1 Carrick Rangers
League winners – Crusaders
Irish Cup winners – Cliftonville
League Cup winners – Larne
Relegated – Carrick Rangers
Top scorer – Joe Gormley
Surprise package – Glentoran
Last weekend also saw the start of the Bluefin Sport Championship and with two sets of fixtures played already here is what the table looks like at this early stage:-
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Ards | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | Dundela | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Portadown | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | Loughgall | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Queens University | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Dergview | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | HW Welders | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Knockbreda | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 9 | Ballyclare Comrades | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 3 |
| 10 | Newry City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
| 11 | Ballinamallard United | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 12 | PSNI | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 0 |
Here is the Championship fixture list for tomorrow, all games are at 15:00 unless otherwise stated:-
Ards v Newry City
Portadown v Ballinamallard
Queens University v Knockbreda (Tuesday at 19:00)
Ballyclare Comrades v Harland and Wolff Welders (Tuesday at 19:45)
Dundela v PSNI (Tuesday at 19:45)
Loughgall v Dergview (tonight at 19:45)
The first round of this seasons League Cup is also scheduled for tomorrow with just the four fixtures taking place at this stage. The first round draw for tomorrow is as follows, as usual all games kick off at 15:00 unless otherwise stated:-
PSNI v Queens University (tomorrow at 14:00)
Armagh City v Harland and Wolff Welders
Ballyclare Comrades v Knockbreda
Loughgall v Banbridge Town
Are you heading to any of the games taking place in Northern Ireland tomorrow? If so let us know on our Twitter page (@o_t_turnstile) and if you disagree with our predictions let us know yours.
