 | ||||
October 7, 2008
Ballymac's next away bus is to Drogheda for the Setanta Cup semi-final on 13th October, departing Wilgar Street at 4.30pm.
As usual all visitors are very welcome to travel. Other buses at the link above.
8th Oct 08. Setanta bus - The Ballymac bus to Drogheda next Monday 13th October has only 2 seats left available, departing 4.30pm from Wilgar Street, return fare is £8. First 2 names secures. Pending arrival from Drogheda later this week it is hoped the Glens will be making some 570 tickets available from this coming Friday ... at an average price of around 20 euro each!
7th Oct 08. St Pats game - Think it's worth mentioning after the slating I gave the team last week, that some of the football against St Pats on Monday night, especially the first half, was the best I've seen from a Glentoran side in some time, certainly this season anyroads. Absolutely delighted to be in the semi-final of the Setanta Cup, and fair to say I reckon we made more than a few so called 'football pundits' on this island eat their words. Long may it continue :-)
Setanta draw - Our reward for defeating St Pats last night to qualify for the Setanta semi-finals is a trip to Drogheda next MONDAY night with an 8.05pm kick-off. The Derry City / Cork City semi-final will take place the following night (Tuesday), which the Glens would have preferred, but a draw of 'Lots' this morning determined the dates. The meeting is still ongoing and at the minute ticket allocation has yet to be decided.
Halfers Draw v St Pats was made by Gary Hamilton who drew Jim Rutherford's ticket No. 2176 and won the Bangor Glenman £250. Please note, the draw at the called off Linfield game (2010) has not been claimed and will now be added to Saturday's draw v Institute as a Rollover!
Updates ... Sorry for the lack of updates folks, internet's been down since Friday morning. Will try to get everything brought up to date as soon as possible :-( (I take it you all know the Glens are through to the semi-finals of the Setanta anyway ;-)
3rd Oct 08. Linfield game - Only 8 games played in the all new Irish League Premiership and already a top-of-the-table clash with the great unwashed. Not quite a title decider just yet, but even at this very early stage, a loss for the Glens will drop us 4 points off the pace with a game more played - a win taking us at least a point clear at the top depending on other results! Not a lot more to say about this one really, expect the first bumper crowd of the new season, and your usual blood and thunder style football. Here's hoping we've a lot more to smile about at the end of this one than we had on Wednesday night. Bring it on!
Match Betting: Glentoran 17/10, Linfield 6/4, and a draw 21/10. All odds supplied by TOALS
1st Oct 08. Cliftonville 3 Glentoran 0 ... and believe me we were lucky to get NIL!! EIGHT changes tonight from Saturdays 2-1 win at Dungannon, but nevertheless, a display that surely ranks as one of the most inept I've witnessed from a Glentoran side in years ... and there have been some friggin crackers! Honestly it should'a been six at half time such was the state of us, some of the "football" we played bordered on absolute comical! Headless chickens, we were all over the place. Couldn't pass a ball, running into each other, for Gods sake the only shot we had in the first half came from Andy Waterworth and he nearly broke one of the floodlights! Suffice to say the Cliftonville goalkeeper didn't have a save to make until the 65 minute! The only person in a green shirt who looked anything like a footballer tonight was Sean Ward ... and Alan McDonald took him off with half an hour to go!! EIGHT CHANGES FOR A SEMI-FINAL? Anyone who paid 9 quid in there tonight has just been taken for a mug. Sorry folks, but cant think of a solitary plus to come out of this one, I was one of the few who stayed right to the end such was the disbelief - Absolutely dreadful, be eternally thankful if you didn't go. :-(
30th Sep 08. County Antrim Shield semi ... Match Betting: Cliftonville 11/4, Glentoran 10/11, and a draw 9/4. Odds by Paddy Power
29th Sep 08. BallymacGSC 2007/08 "Player of the Year" Awards Dinner ... Click HERE for more
28th Sep 08. Dungannon 1 Glentoran 2 - Gary Hamilton and a Nicky penalty for the second game on the trot, and game all but over in 15 minutes! Glens up to 2nd in the table now, with the visit of our old pals from over the bridge to the Oval this Saturday for top spot! Results and Table pages now updated.
Halfers Draw v Ballymena ... Ticket No. 1638 Prize £340 has now been claimed by the way, by Glenn Hume, who left the game early to go to work, but would have taken the night off if he had stayed for the Draw!!
26th Sep 08. Dungannon game - Match Betting: Dungannon 7/2, Glentoran 8/11, and a draw 12/5. Odds by Paddy Power
Pretty crap odds, considering we've only beaten them twice in the League down there in the last 6 years!
25th Sep 08. It's Ballymena again ... and again ... and again ... ! If you haven't caught any of the recent Glens/Ballymena United fixtures this past few weeks, fear not, we're about to overdose on the Sky Blues before the end of the year! The draw for the 3rd round of the CIS Cup was made today and guess who we got? Yip Ballymena ... and this season it's played over 2 legs! Here's your diary: October 18th Ballymena away - League, October 29th Ballymena away - CIS, November 12th Ballymena home - CIS, & December 20th Ballymena home - League! There's also the chance of drawing them in the Irish Cup of course on 17th January, and if they ever manage to sort that defence out and make the top 6 of the Premiership before the split we'll have to play them again! Surely Roy Walker's bound to win one of them ;-) Full CIS Cup draw HERE
23rd Sep 08. Glentoran 4 Ballymena Utd 1 - Four nil at half time and strolling, the Glens took the foot off the pedal in the second period to concede a solitary goal and allow Distillery to remain ahead of us in the Premiership Table on goals scored. Hard to complain though after our first half display, but disappointing not to notch up a few more goals against a Ballymena side who were there for the taking! Five changes from Saturday, Philip Simpson, Johnny Black, Dean Fitzgerald, Shane McCabe, & Gary Hamilton all starting the game, the goals coming from Scullion, Halliday & Nicky (pen), and a Ballymena OG.
By the way, Derry City beat St Pats 1-0 tonight, meaning that if we can beat St Pats when they visit the Oval in a couple of weeks, then anything other than a Linfield win at Derry City the same night will see the Glens qualify for the Semi-Finals for the first time!
Halfers v Ballymena ... Ticket No, 1638 drawn by Colin Nixon was not claimed at the game. The prize is £340 and please note that if the winner does not claim the prize by the end of the next home game v Linfield 4/10/08, it will become a Rollover and be added to the following Draws winnings against St. Patricks Athletic on the 6/10/08. Any claimer should contact the Club Secretary or Tommy McKee at 07802 354696 ASAP
22nd Sep 08. Glentoran 2 Coleraine 1 - Michael Halliday again on the scoresheet, and substitute David Scullion, enough to give the Glens a hard fought 3 points on Saturday to keep us in touch with Premiership leaders Distillery, just 3 points behind now with a game in hand. That game in hand comes tomorrow night at home to Ballymena United, when a win over Roy Walkers side could see the Glens climb to the lofty heights of 2nd in the table! Tomorrow night also sees the equally important Setanta Cup clash between St Pats and Derry City, where any number of permutations could throw the whole group wide open going into the final games in a fortnight. At the moment all 4 teams are still in with a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. The St Pats / Derry game is also live on Setanta.
19th Sep 08. Coleraine game - The Bannsiders next up for the Glens as we seek to transfer some of our recent midweek cup form to the Premiership. Early days of course, only 5 games played, but 2 wins and 3 draws, scoring just 5 goals in the process, is hardly setting the world on fire at the minute! Will be interesting indeed to see the line-up tomorrow given our 'fringe' team have knocked in 10 goals in their last 2 outings! A 2-goal win against Coleraine though would see us climb at least one place in the table, leapfrogging tomorrows opponents on goal difference. The Bannsiders might have something to say about that though, having won their last 2 games 3-0 and 3-1, that 3-0 coming away to Newry just 4 days before we struggled to find the net down there. No matter, time to up the ante far as I'm concerned, lose here and we'll already be 6 points off the pace after only 6 games, and 4 of them played at home. A win here, then the same again at home to Ballymena on Tuesday night, and we could be top of the table! Match Betting: Glentoran 8/15, Coleraine 11/2, and a draw 12/5. Odds by TOALS
18th Sep 08. WIN ONE OF FOUR FANTASTIC GLENTORAN SHIRTS! ... HERE
17th Sep 08. Ballymac Player of the Year - Ballymac members are reminded that this Saturday night is the club's 'Player of the Year' Dinner. Proper dress, wash yer face, and in the clubrooms no later than 7.30 please ... and don't turn up pissed ;-)
15th Sep 08. Linfield 1 Glentoran 4 - Grant Gardiner with a penalty kick (yes a penalty kick) on 3 minutes, Darren Boyce, and Michael Halliday with a double, give the Glens their first win of this seasons Setanta Cup to keep our slim chances of making the semi-finals alive. It must go down to our last match now, at home to St Pats on Monday 6th October. Well did yez all do that bet? ... I did :-) Setanta Tables Here
Glens better than 3/1! - It would appear Glentoran fans aren't the only ones of the opinion that Glentoran are, shall we say, less than totally committed to the Setanta Cup competition. You can get the Glens at 10/3 with Paddy Power online to win at the swamp tonight, while Toals have something similar at 16/5. To coin a famous quote from the early 70's...
"You've got to ask yourself one question - Do I feel lucky? Well do ya ...?" ;-)
One for the anoraks ... Just noticed that 3 English clubs competing in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night will face former european opponents of the Glens: Villa v Litex Lovech (1999), Everton v Standard Liege (1984), & Spurs v Wisla Krakow (2002). It's been a quiet morning :-)
14th Sep 08. ** Please note - Due to what appears a severe lack of interest in this competition, the Ballymac will NOT now be running a bus to tomorrow nights Setanta Cup clash at the swamp. Apologies to all our regulars :-(
Newry City 0 Glentoran 0 - 80% of the possession, yet Elliott Morris made the only 2 saves of the game from open play! There was one other save at the other end, but once again we failed from the penalty spot, how many's that now? A very worrying trend indeed, and costing us dear. Overall, lots of huff and puff but no end product, even with all 3 forwards on for the last 25 minutes we still failed to trouble the Newry keeper once, and lived on our wits sometimes at the back! 2 points lost!
13th Sep 08. Newry City game - Match Betting: Newry City 10/3, Glentoran 5/6, and a draw 21/10. All odds by TOALS
12th Sep 08. Fixture changes - The Glens Setanta Cup fixture with St Pats Athletic, originally scheduled for the Oval on Tuesday 23rd September, has now been switched to Monday 6th October to facilitate St Pats UEFA Cup clash with Hertha Berlin a week earlier. The free date means the Glens will now play the postponed League fixture with Ballymena Utd at the Oval on Tuesday 23rd September instead.
9th Sep 08. Glentoran 6 Ballymena Utd 1 - Biggest win of the season and half a team out! No Nicky, no Hamilton, no Waterworth, no McCabe, no Fordyce ... yet entertainment and goals from all over the pitch - Halliday x 2, Boyce x 2, Gardiner, & Leeman! Even Simpy scored ... for them!! Only blot on the evening was the dismissal of Kyle Neill for an off the ball incident with 15 minutes to go and the Glens 5-1 up, he now misses Saturdays trip to Newry :-( Wonder has anyone else won a place.
Halfers ... To top off a great night Glens supporter Ronan Nevin went home happy with the result and his £220 winnings when his ticket 0804 was drawn by Jamie McGovern. Good luck to him!
GCT CLEARANCE SALE, ALL RETRO STOCK TO GO! ... HERE
Ballymena game - Quarter-Final of the "binlid" tonight folks, with Ballymena United & 'former Glens Manager' Roy Walker the visitors to the Oval (7.30ko). Fair to say Ballymena have hardly set the world alight in the first weeks of the new season, just 2 draws from 4 starts (although both those notably coming away from home) - then again we're not exactly Real Madrid ourselves! No matter, you always get a tough game when Ballymena visit the Oval. God knows what sort of team we'll have out for this one, but hopefully maybe an opportunity to give the injured David Scullion and Shane McCabe a bit of a run-out. Get your wet-gear on too if the forcasters are right! Match Betting: Glentoran 4/9, Ballymena Utd 6/1, and a draw 11/4. All odds by TOALS (What price it gets called off!) By the way, you can get Northern Ireland 4/1 at home to the Czech Republic tomorrow night.
8th Sep 08. Halfers v Bangor - New signing Andrew Waterworth made his first Halfers Draw and as a result made Raymond Mayne richer by £440 when he picked Ray's ticket No. 0290. - A very respectable prize on an Historic day! Results and League Table pages now updated.
3rd Sep 08. Derry City 2 Glentoran 0 - All but out of the Setanta Cup once again, with just 2 games left to play we now find ourselves 5 points adrift at the bottom of Group 2.
1st Sep 08. Waterworth for Derry? - Yet to be officially comfirmed, but news reaching me this afternoon is that the Glens have now received international clearance from the Scottish FA for new signing Andy Waterworth, and he goes straight into Alan McDonalds panel for tomorrow night's Setanta Cup clash at Derry City.
Halfers Winner v Cliftonville ... drawn by Sean Ward was Victor and Joshua Carson from the Cregagh who had been collecting for Glentoran Belfast United Ladies team. Their ticket 1519 won them £430 - ( A whole lot of money according to Gil! ) Victor pledged to give £100 of their winnings to the Ladies collection, so well done to them!
31st Aug 08. GCT IN GROUNDBREAKING WATERWORTH DEAL ... HERE
Glentoran 2 Cliftonville 1 - A real last-gasp winner from Colin Nixon to give a 10-man Glens their first victory of the new IFA Premiership, and keep us in touch with leaders Crusaders at the top.
30th Aug 08. Derry City bus - Only 6 seats remain on the Ballymac bus to the Derry City Setanta match next Tuesday night.
29th Aug 08. Cliftonville game - Match Betting: Glentoran EVENS, Cliftonville 12/5, and a draw 9/4. All odds by Paddy Power
GCT Join / Renew - The GCT will have a stall in the Oval car park at tomorrows game with Cliftonville from 2pm, to provide an opportunity to anyone who may wish to join the Glentoran Community Trust, renew his or her membership, or indeed make a donation. There will also be the same opportunity afforded to fans at the Oval on Sunday from 12pm - 4pm during the GCT UNITY CUP event. Any potential new members will then be invited to attend the GCT General Meeting at the Park Avenue Hotel on Thursday 11th September, where everyone will receive a complete update on GCT affairs, together with a few major announcements on recent Trust business.
29th Aug 08. Last few badges - Only around 20 or so metal pin-badges remain from the Raven GSC's contributon to Paul Leeman's benefit season. Priced just £2.50 each, the final few have now been placed in the Glentoran Souvenier shop at the Oval for clearance. Once they're gone they're gone, there will be no re-order.
Derry City tickets ... for next Tuesday's Setanta Cup match at the Brandywell will be on sale at the Oval today and tomorrow (Thurs & Fri), to Season Ticket holders and Shareholders ONLY, between 12 o'clock noon and 2pm. The remainder will go on general sale at the Oval this Saturday v Cliftonville. Around 15 seats only remain on the Ballymac bus.
27th Aug 08. Obituary - Henrietta Waterworth - It is with deep regret that I learn this week of the passing away of Henrietta Waterworth, mother of Christine Miller (wife of Ballymac member Roy Miller). The sincere thoughts of everyone here at the Ballymacarrett Glentoran Supporters Club go out to Christine at this very sad time, with our deepest sympathy to Roy and the extended family. The funeral will take place tomorrow, Thursday 28th August 2008 at Roselawn Cemetery at 3.00pm, while the family have requested that the family home remain private please.
Glentoran Community Trust “UNITY CUP 2008” - This Sunday afternoon (31st August 2008), the Oval will play host to the Glentoran Community Trust Unity Cup 2008. The Unity Cup is an Irish Football Association organised annual event, aimed at the bringing together of different nationalities and ethnic groupings from right across the Northern Ireland community through the medium of 7-a-side football. It is the second time in 3 years the GCT have sponsored the Unity Cup Trophy, and a unique first for the Oval and Glentoran FC in bringing the competition to the very heart of East Belfast.
8 sides will compete on the day, to be selected from ...
2 x World United sides (Mixed nationality), 3 x Polish, 1 x Chinese, 1 x NI Supporters select, 1 x Belfast Community select & 1 x IFA select. The competition will take place from 12 o’clock noon – 3.00pm, playing across the Oval turf 2 games at a time. Admission on the day is FREE, with light refreshments provided in the form of multi-cultural catering - Indian / Chinese / Polish etc.
Although yet to be confirmed at time of writing, attempts are also being made to have the licensed bar open from 2pm – 5pm.
Why not bring the family along and enjoy an afternoon of football at the Oval with a difference!
Halfers Draw v Crusaders ... was made by Shane McCabe, and Shane picked number 1104 to send Stephen Graham and dad Wilbur home happy with the £350 prize!
26th Aug 08. Glentoran 1 Crusaders 1 - That's twice in 4 days the Glens have beaten my bet, and ya know what, I can't complain ... coz we we're absolute sh!te both times. League Champions? Put friggin years on ya watchin that! Zzzzzzzzzz
Results & Table pages now updated. Match Betting: Glentoran 1/2, Crusaders 5/1, & a draw 11/4. Odds by Paddy Power
25th Aug 08. Derry City - Word reaching me is that we may be getting as few as 300 tickets for next weeks Setanta game :-(
23rd Aug 08. Distillery 1 Glentoran 1 - It needed a late late equaliser from substitute Dean Fitzgerald 5 minutes from time save the Glens from an opening defeat at Ballyskeagh today, and that against 10 men, as the home side saw Ryan McCann sent off on 65 minutes! Former Glenman Peter McCann had put the Whites ahead on 10 minutes. On a day when the Glens were well below par I think most were just releived to come away with a point in the end.
22nd Aug 08. Distillery game - Sayin nothin! Match Betting: Lis Distillery 5/2, Glentoran EVENS, & a draw 9/4. Odds by Paddy Power
19th Aug 08. CAS Result - Glentoran 6 Newington YC 1
Tonight's game is ON - In the end a pitch inspection for tonights County Antrim Shield tie was not required as all the surface water has now been removed from the playing surface. The game is definitely going ahead.
18th Aug 08. Newington game in doubt - The Glens County Antrim Shield tie with Newington YC tomorrow night is in serious doubt. As of this afternoon we still have some 6 inches of water lying on sections of the Oval pitch, and despite 3 pumps working flat out, the forecast of more rain tonight and tomorrow makes the prospect of the match being given the go ahead extremely doubtful. If the game was to be tonight it would have been called off already. It is expected a pitch inspection will take place tomorrow afternoon regardless.
15th Aug 08. Glenavon game - Nearly scared to say it - ok, here goes ... "The big kick off tomorrow!" There, downpour's a cert now around half 2 and the game called off! Match Betting: Glentoran 1/3, Glenavon 8/1, and a draw 7/2. All odds by Eastwoods
14th Aug 08. Metalurgs duffed at home ... 2-0 by Romanian outfit FC Vaslui in the Uefa Cup. I hardly cried at all.
New Ballymac Lounge open - The BallymacGSC from this coming Saturday will be opening our newly refurbished upstairs lounge before every Glentoran home game. With new widescreen TV's on order, members and visitors alike can come watch a 'live' match, play a game of pool, and enjoy a relaxing pint and a bit of craic in comfort before the 10 minute trek downhill to the Oval for the 3 o'clock kick off. Doors open on Saturday at 1.00pm, and everyone is welcome :-)
13th Aug 08. Just confirmed ... anyone who has applied for tickets for the Scotland v Northern Ireland friendly at Hampden Park next Wednesday can relax. The Scottish FA have granted all Northern Ireland fans applications ... all 6,500 of them!!!
Had a wee whimper today ... as to who may have been responsible for the 'U' turn by the County Antrim FA on the Newington game. No names, but suffice to say I'll not be shedding any 'Teers' if we tank Glenavon this weekend!
12th Aug 08. Quarry GSC N Ireland ballot - Quarry Glentoran Supporters Club have asked me to plug a ballot they are selling on Saturday to help raise much needed club funds. A match ticket for the Northern Ireland v Czech Republic World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday 10th September is up for grabs, for which ballots will be on sale outside the Oval before the game and at half-time inside the social club.
11th Aug 08, 11pm. **UPDATE** County Antrim Shield 'U' Turn - Official news just reaching me is that the County Antrim FA, after sanctioning the Newington YC game switch earlier today, have now reneged on the agreement and withdrawn their consent!! The game now reverts back to next Tuesday night, 19th August. Just one friggin joke after another isn't it !!
Latvia pics now online ... Click on the pic above right
11am. Newington this Thursday night - The Glens County Antrim Shield tie with Newington YC has been brought forward and will now be played at the Oval this Thursday night 14th August, 7.30pm. Season tickets are NOT valid.
Glens U18's lift cup - Congratulations to a very young Glentoran U18 eleven who won the first trophy of the season yesterday in the North Belfast News U18 Cup. Competing against 15 other teams, including most of the Irish Premier League sides, the wee Glens remained undefeated in the group stages and semi finals on Saturday (9th August) to earn a final place against Cliftonville in Sundays final at Seaview. Against the more experienced Cliftonville side the team battled well, but despite being under some pressure for the opening 25mins actually took the lead when McKenzie nipped in at the back post to finish off a miss-hit shot. This settled the Glens and they started to come in to the game more. Just before half time they increased their lead when the ball bounced up just inside the box and Selfridge volleyed it high into the roof of the net. Half time 2 - 0. Despite Cliftonville pulling a goal back with 15 mins to go the young Glens held on to win the Cup 2 - 1.
The Glens also had Player of the Tournament in left back Robbie Lee and Top Goalscorer in forward Matthew Selfridge.
10th Aug 08. Referee's strike - With the Referee's strike now over we await a decision on just when yesterday's matches will now take place. Initial rumour was that the games would be played this coming Tuesday night, but with still nothing official from the IFA that now looks very unlikely given the timescale. Saturday 28th March 2009 is now looking favourite.
7th Aug 08, 10.30pm. All JJB Premiership games off! - As of 10 o'clock tonight Glentoran's opening IFA Premiership game with Ballymena Utd this Saturday is OFF - as are all the rest!! The IFA and Referees Association failed to come to agreement at tonights Windsor Avenue pay dispute talks, and as a result the men in black have called on their members for a nationwide strike this coming weekend! Unless someone can pull a rabbit out of the hat sometime tomorrow it's Beijing on the box!
County Antrim Shield draw - Glens will face Newington YC in the first round of this seasons County Antrim Shield.
Also - Cliftonville switch now confirmed.
5th Aug 08. Hold that page ... have it on good authority that the Glens v Cliftonville game on 30th August has NOT yet been given the go ahead officially from the Glens to be switched. Not yet anyway!
4th Aug 08. Ballymena game - Early Betting: Glentoran 1/2, Ballymena 5/1, and a draw 11/4. All odds by Paddy Power
Cliftonville tie switch - The Glens first two IFA Premiership clashes with Cliftonville have been switched. The Saturday 30th August game will now be played at the Oval, while the November 17th clash will now take place at Solitude - to be broadcast live by Sky Sports. Upshot of all that means that the Glens now have 5 of their first 6 Premiership games at home!
...
Site built and maintained by Jim Welsh
UEFA CUP
Metalurgs v Glentoran pics now online.
Click on the
picture for more ----->
