The Gift

Knockbreda  3  Loughgall  2

Northern Ireland Championship

As the sun broke through the gap in the curtains of the Mourne Country Hotel in Newry, and I gradually came to my senses, the realisation that another Northern Irish venture was upon me hastened the desire to make a move.

But not before a few minutes of reflection on the day before, a superb day that took in so much of the history of this fantastic place. A few minutes was enough though, I could smell bacon!

The bus from Newry to Belfast was quiet, or at least it was until the latest incarnation of nineties girl band B’Witched got on board and the peace was shattered. I had picked the seat next to the back row, purely because the emergency door meant more leg room, but when they decided to take up the back seat, my peaceful dozing came to an abrupt end. Hollister deals for all at TK Maxx apparently?

Primark - Gorn!

Once in Belfast I took a steady walk past the superb City Hall, took a look at the burned out Primark building, before heading into the Cathedral Quarter, mainly because I had a specific destination in mind, the Duke of York.

Now then, there are boozers, and then there’s this place. If you like sports memorabilia, football in particular, then trust me, you’ll be in porn heaven. Almost every square inch of the walls and the ceilings is taken up by remnants, artefacts, programmes, posters, the lot. To see old Belfast Celtic programmes alongside Distillery programmes from European ties is fantastic, just as it is to see a greyhound racing card from West Ham Stadium dating back to the thirties. You could spend an age snooping around a pub that features on the Belfast tourist trail, but at some point it’s courteous to buy a drink.

The Grand Old Duke

After a wee drink it was time to head to another iconic tavern, Bittles, which is just a few minutes away. This place is much smaller, however it’s equally decorated, but more in a socio-political sense. The artwork is fantastic, with Messrs Adams, McGuinness and Paisley heavily featured, but also sitting alongside the likes of Georgie Best and Alex Higgins. A wonderful little place.

The drinking and gazing couldn’t last forever as the Laganside Bus Station beckoned for the wagon that would take me out into the Country to the general proximity of Breda Park, the home of Knockbreda Football Club.

Belfast

The bus travels through the Republican Short Strand area before crossing the interface onto the edges of the Newtownards Road territory. It then heads in a South Easterly direction through Castlereagh, before climbing up the hill into what is effectively countryside. I got off the bus at the junction of Braniel Road, and made my way along the narrow road with no pavements for about a quarter of a mile before I found Breda Park. At this stage you are quite high up, and the views to the North across Belfast and the docks are very impressive indeed.

Cranes

Knockbreda FC have been around since 1947, playing for over forty years in the Churches League, but then in 1989 they joined the Northern Amateur League. Twenty years later, having located to and developed the current ground, they were admitted to the Northern Irish Championship Two, where they lasted for four seasons before promotion to Championship One, where they remain.

Life hasn’t exactly been a struggle either in the second tier of Irish football, they’ve flirted on the edges of the promotion race, and have been one of the stringer teams in the competition on a consistent basis.  They also play in yellow and black, the very same colours as NAC Breda from the Netherlands, is there a connection, I have no idea?

Not NAC Breda

The ground at Breda Park has been developed over the years, and despite its isolated location, it does have a feeling of being something of a community hub. A very large car park slopes down from the main road, and to the right is a floodlit 4G playing surface in a cage. Directly in front is a two story clubhouse and dressing room complex, with the turnstiles to its right hand side.

The main pitch is down a slope from the clubhouse, and from a furniture point of view the only spectator accommodation is a modern seated stand that straddles the halfway line on the East side of the ground. Hard standing is available for the large part, but the ground has no floodlights. To get promotion to the top flight would be a huge ask at the current ground, I suspect.

Action

Visiting Loughgall, who I paid a visit to back in April, sat next to bottom in the table while the hosts were just above the half way mark. After a couple more pints in the clubhouse, where the locals were very friendly I must add, it was time to go and have a look at proceedings.

Eight pounds will see you in, assuming you don’t want to watch it from the seats by the windows in the clubhouse that overlooks the pitch, but I suspect you need to arrive early for those prime spots. I was too late an hour before kick off!

So what about the game? After a pretty even first half in front of a crowd of maybe 100, it was the visitors who took the lead just after the half hour mark  when Andrew Hoey fired low into the net.

Fields & Stuff

It looked in the bag for Loughgall ten minutes into the second period when a penalty was awarded and up stepped Hoey to make it 2-0, but the game was about to be turned on it’s head.

Jordan Baker tapped the ball home in the 67^th minute, and then within five minutes the substitute had found the net for the equaliser. It wasn’t over yet though.

With just under fifteen minutes remaining, fellow substitute David Fearon finished well following a flick from Baker to make the comeback complete. It had been a tremendous turnaround and the lads in the viewing gallery were banging on the glass in appreciation.

Buildings

The tricky road was successfully navigated after the game and a bus was caught back into the centre of Belfast. A quiet evening was enjoyed on the back of a good old Spoons meal deal, with plenty of time to reflect on what had gone before over the two days.

The next trip will be in the Spring, the planning and thought process will start long before that, so much to see and so much to do, the land that just keeps on giving.