In what has been a hectic season for the 12 Danske Bank Premiership teams there is a rare breather for the majority of them this weekend until the penultimate games of the season are played on Tuesday.
There is however a full fixture list in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division taking place tonight as well as the Sadlers Peaky Blinder Irish Cup final.
In the cup final Larne take on Linfield at Mourneview Park with the game kicking off at 19:45 and being shown live on BBC2NI.
This will be Larne’s first appearance in the showpiece final since the 2004-05 season and they will be hoping for better fortunes as on that occasion they were thrashed 5-1 by Portadown. In fact, this will be the Inver Park side’s sixth appearance in the Irish Cup final and they have been on the losing side on the previous five occasions.
In contrast, Linfield are the most successful side in the competitions history with this being their 64th appearance in the final and 43 previous wins to their name, it is their first final though since they won the competition last in 2017.
Traditionally the Irish Cup final is always played after the Saturday after the league campaign has ended but as things stand there are two games still to be played, a few weeks ago the title seemed certain to be heading back to Windsor Park for the third season in a row but recent results could see the title race between Linfield and Coleraine right to the wire, which could possibly be something on David Healy and Co.’s minds tonight.
Larne will perhaps look back on this season with somewhat mixed feelings, for much of the first half of the season they were well in the title chase but fell away after Christmas and are still not guaranteed a place in Europe. They did however win the County Antrim Shield and a first ever Irish Cup win for the club would certainly go down as a season to remember for a club that has had its fair share of struggles over the years.
South of the border, here is how the league standings currently look: –
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Shamrock Rovers | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 27 |
| 2 | Sligo Rovers | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| 3 | St. Patrick’s Athletic | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 21 |
| 4 | Drogheda United | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 16 |
| 5 | Finn Harps | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 15 |
| 6 | Bohemians | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 14 |
| 7 | Dundalk | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 11 |
| 8 | Derry City | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 15 | -6 | 10 |
| 9 | Longford Town | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 18 | -10 | 7 |
| 10 | Waterford | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 24 | -19 | 6 |
Rovers are guaranteed to remain top of the table regardless of how their game against Dundalk goes but Sligo and St. Pat’s will be seeking to close the gap when they take on Longford and Bohemians respectively.
Waterford welcome Derry to the Regional Sports Centre in what could prove to be an important game in the battle against relegation. A victory for the home side and a defeat for Longford would move Waterford off bottom spot and only a point behind Derry.
Here is the weekend’s full fixture list, all games kick off tonight at 19:45 unless otherwise stated: –
Waterford v Derry City (Friday 21st May 2021 at 17:45)
St. Patrick’s Athletic v Bohemians (Friday 21st May at 17:45)
Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps v Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers v Longford Town
Tonight, there is also a full SSE Airtricity First Division fixture list with the following games kicking off at 19:45: –
Athlone Town v Cobh Ramblers
Cork City v Galway United
Wexford v Bray Wanderers
Cabinteely v Treaty United
Shelbourne v U.C.D.
Here is the First Division table: –
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Shelbourne | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 18 |
| 2 | U.C.D. | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 16 |
| 3 | Athlone Town | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | Treaty United | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | Galway United | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | Cabinteely | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 12 |
| 7 | Bray Wanderers | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| 8 | Cork City | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | Cobh Ramblers | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 5 |
| 10 | Wexford | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 21 | -19 | 0 |
Here are our team’s latest predictions for tonight’s Premier Division games; some have also given their prediction for the cup final just for fun.
Liam
Waterford 0-2 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-1 Bohemians
Dundalk 1-3 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 0-2 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 2-0 Longford Town
Richard
Waterford 1-2 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 3-1 Bohemians
Dundalk 2-2 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 3-1 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 2-1 Longford Town
Irish Cup final: Linfield 4-0 Crusaders
Rodney
Waterford 2-2 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-1 Bohemians
Dundalk 1-2 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 2-1 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 3-1 Longford Town
Irish Cup final: Linfield 2-1 Larne
Adrian
Waterford 2-1 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-0 Bohemians
Dundalk 1-1 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 1-1 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 3-0 Longford Town
Darren
Waterford 1-0 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-1 Bohemians
Dundalk 1-1 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 1-0 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 2-0 Longford Town
Cameron
Waterford 2-1 Derry City
St. Patrick’s Athletic 1-0 Bohemians
Dundalk 0-2 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 1-1 Drogheda United
Sligo Rovers 3-0 Longford Town
Irish Cup final: Larne 2-1 Linfield
