Bangor sealed a welcome return to the Premier Intermediate League this week, following another busy week of wins that was topped off on Monday as news filtered through that they would not require a playoff to take their place back among the NI Football League setup.
The title was delivered following a 3-1 win away at one of their main title rivals, St James Swifts. The Swifts were one of the clubs who had applied for the jump into the PIL but with Bangor’s relentless march to the championship, they will have at least another season of BPIL football before they can realise their goal.
Also putting their names forward for promotion from this tier of intermediate football were Mid-Ulster sides Crewe United & Moneyslane, but with Hanover winning the title there that left only Strabane Athletic as possible opponents for the Seasiders. Eamon Curry’s side applied for promotion and duly won the NI Intermediate League, but the Melvin Park ground did not meet the criteria.
Bangor still have three games to fulfil their obligations to the BPIL, with league games at home to Newtowne and away to Desertmartin, while they will once again lock horns with St James Swifts in the McReynolds Cup Final later in May.
On Saturday Bangor defeated reigning champions Glebe Rangers 2-0 at the Bangor Fuels Arena, while St James fell to a 4-2 defeat in Limavady against Newtowne, a result which guaranteed the outgoing champions Glebe a second place finish.
In the NAFL Crumlin Star, seeking to make it a hat trick of titles, all but wrapped it up thanks to a 3-1 win away at nearest challengers, and long-time leaders, Immaculata. They followed this up on Saturday with a 0-0 draw away at Rathfriland, and this meant that they had to wait for that confirmation of the title.
This is because of the form of East Belfast, with their recent form of five wins on the spin, scoring 21 goals in the process, meaning they can still catch the leaders. The two sides meet in a titanic battle tonight (Tuesday) at East Park which will go a long way to determining whether the silverware stays in the north or heads to the east of the city.
It was a relatively quiet week in Mid Ulster, but there was a big result at the bottom of the table as Laurelvale thumped rock bottom AFC Silverwood 7-1 at Lakeview to leapfrog Tandragee Rovers into 12th position. Crucially, they also have two games in hand on the side immediately above them, St. Marys, as they look to secure their place in the division for a second season.
There are two tasty looking games tonight (Tuesday) as Banbridge Rangers host Windmill Stars at Cheney Park, while Crewe United welcome Richhill AFC to Crewe Park with the race for the runners-up spot behind champions Hanover wide open.
Northern Amateur Football League Premier Division
Saturday 27 April
Rathfriland Rangers 0-0 Crumlin Star
Shankill United 4-5 Islandmagee
East Belfast 8-0 1st Bangor Old Boys
Thursday 25 April
Immaculata F.C. 1-3 Crumlin Star
Rathfriland Rangers 1-4 East Belfast
Shankill United 4-1 Downpatrick F.C.
| Position | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Crumlin Star | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 70 | 9 | 61 | 58 |
| 2 | Immaculata F.C. | 25 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 53 | 24 | 29 | 54 |
| 3 | East Belfast | 23 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 83 | 21 | 62 | 52 |
| 4 | Ballynahinch Olympic | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 62 | 32 | 30 | 44 |
| 5 | Islandmagee | 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 59 | 43 | 16 | 42 |
| 6 | Rathfriland Rangers | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 45 | 27 | 18 | 38 |
| 7 | Shankill United | 25 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 51 | 45 | 6 | 37 |
| 8 | Ards Rangers | 26 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 38 | 58 | -20 | 28 |
| 9 | Crumlin United | 23 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 43 | 51 | -8 | 27 |
| 10 | 1st Bangor Old Boys | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 42 | 53 | -11 | 27 |
| 11 | Derriaghy C C | 25 | 7 | 4 | 14 | 30 | 58 | -28 | 25 |
| 12 | Drumaness Mills | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 49 | 74 | -25 | 21 |
| 13 | Albert Foundry F.C. | 24 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 27 | 56 | -29 | 13 |
| 14 | Downpatrick F.C. | 23 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 20 | 121 | -101 | 6 |
Mid Ulster Intermediate League
Saturday 27 April
AFC Silverwood 0-4 Fivemiletown United
Moneyslane 2-1 Ballymacash Rangers
Wednesday 24 April
AFC Silverwood 1-7 Laurelvale
| Position | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Hanover | 26 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 75 | 30 | 45 | 64 |
| 2 | Windmill Stars | 25 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 66 | 29 | 37 | 49 |
| 3 | Moneyslane | 24 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 58 | 30 | 28 | 46 |
| 4 | Banbridge Rangers | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 58 | 24 | 34 | 45 |
| 5 | Crewe United | 21 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 68 | 37 | 31 | 44 |
| 6 | Valley Rangers | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 48 | 38 | 10 | 37 |
| 7 | Richhill AFC | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 46 | 40 | 6 | 34 |
| 8 | Fivemiletown United | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 47 | 41 | 6 | 31 |
| 9 | Bourneview Mill | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 41 | 53 | -12 | 26 |
| 10 | Ballymacash Rangers | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 34 | 45 | -11 | 25 |
| 11 | St Marys | 26 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 43 | 72 | -29 | 24 |
| 12 | Laurelvale | 24 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 41 | 49 | -8 | 22 |
| 13 | Tandragee Rovers | 24 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 39 | 50 | -11 | 22 |
| 14 | AFC Silverwood | 25 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 136 | -126 | 1 |
Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League
Saturday 27 April
Ballynure OB 3-3 Wakehurst FC
Bangor 2-0 Glebe Rangers
Chimney Corner 4-2 Cookstown Youth
Dunloy FC 3-1 Desertmartin
Newtowne 4-2 St James Swifts
Thursday 25 April
Ballynure OB 4-1 Chimney Corner
St James Swifts 1-3 Bangor FC
| Position | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Bangor FC | 26 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 107 | 19 | 88 | 76 |
| 2 | Glebe Rangers | 28 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 66 | 30 | 36 | 67 |
| 3 | St James Swifts | 25 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 94 | 35 | 59 | 57 |
| 4 | Coagh United | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 49 | 42 | 7 | 43 |
| 5 | Ballymoney Utd | 27 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 60 | 46 | 14 | 41 |
| 6 | Newtowne | 25 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 48 | 41 | 7 | 35 |
| 7 | Brantwood | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 43 | 36 | 7 | 35 |
| 8 | Dunloy FC | 28 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 47 | 49 | -2 | 35 |
| 9 | Wakehurst FC | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 45 | 51 | -6 | 32 |
| 10 | Cookstown Youth | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 44 | 55 | -11 | 32 |
| 11 | Chimney Corner | 25 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 43 | 64 | -21 | 28 |
| 12 | Ballynure OB | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 47 | 61 | -14 | 27 |
| 13 | Donegal Celtic | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 42 | 95 | -53 | 22 |
| 14 | Desertmartin | 26 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 32 | 89 | -57 | 11 |
| 15 | Cookstown RBL | 26 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 23 | 77 | -54 | 10 |
NI Intermediate League
| Position | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Strabane Athletic | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 40 | 8 | 32 | 36 |
| 2 | Maiden City | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 33 | 14 | 19 | 30 |
| 3 | Newbuildings Utd | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 11 | 25 |
| 4 | Magherafelt Sky Blues | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 25 |
| 5 | Ardstraw | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 29 | -12 | 16 |
| 6 | Dungiven | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 31 | -12 | 13 |
| 7 | Trojans | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 34 | -18 | 12 |
| 8 | Oxford United Stars | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 32 | -25 | 4 |
