He made his Irish League debut in April 1967 for Distillery as a centre-forward, but established himself the following season as a centre-half. He won an Irish Cup winners' medal with the Whites in 1971. In total he made 262 appearances for Distillery, turning out in every position including goalkeeper, before he was signed by Linfield in December 1973.
Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The club has been managed by former captain Jim Ervin since 2023.
Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is a semi-professional association football club playing in the NIFL Premiership – the top division of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club was founded in September 1879 by John McAlery in the suburb of Cliftonville in north Belfast and are the founders of football in Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Football League Cup is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League. It is the third-most prestigious competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. It should not be confused with the Irish League Floodlit Cup which ran from 1987–88 to 1997–98. Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup does not have a berth for UEFA Europa Conference League qualification. The cup has been operated by the Northern Ireland Football League since the 2013–14 season when it took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA), after which the cup was renamed to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.
Martin McGaughey is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played as a striker.
Glenn Ferguson is a Northern Irish former football player and manager.
Alan Blayney is a retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is now the first team goalkeeper coach at NIFL Premiership side Larne.
Felix Healy is a former Northern Ireland international footballer and singer who played for Coleraine and then became a football manager. He has also worked as a media pundit. He is currently part of the management team at First Division club Finn Harps, taking on the role of Director of football alongside manager Peter Hutton.
Trevor Anderson is a Northern Irish former footballer and manager. He played as a forward.
James McBurney Feeney was a Northern Irish professional footballer. During his career he made almost 100 appearances for Swansea City and over 200 appearances for Ipswich Town. Feeney's son and grandson, both named Warren, later represented Northern Ireland.
Stephen John Baxter is a Northern Irish football manager and retired footballer. Baxter is known for his time at Crusaders, where he had two spells as a player, and served as manager for 19 years between 2005 and 2024.
The 2000–01 Irish League was the 100th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 10 teams, and Linfield won the championship.
The 2003–04 Irish Premier League was the 103rd edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. For this season there was a change from the structure of previous seasons, with the First Division reverting to intermediate status and the new Premier Division being renamed as the Irish Premier League. The league consisted of 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.
Ballymacash Rangers Football Club is an intermediate-level football club who play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. The club is based in the Lisburn area and play their home games at The Bluebell Stadium. The club also has a senior reserve side, senior swifts side, senior women's side and a youth academy.
Arthur Stewart was a Northern Ireland international footballer who played with, among others, Glentoran, Derby County and Ballymena United in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, he won seven full international caps for Northern Ireland as well as five amateur caps and five inter-league caps for the Irish League.
Paul Kirk is a Northern Irish retired football player and manager.
David Rainey is a retired footballer from Northern Ireland who played as a striker, and is currently assistant manager at Crusaders.
Sammy Hatton was a Northern Irish footballer who played in the Irish League as a centre-half with Linfield in the 1960s. He won two international caps for Northern Ireland. He also played for the Northern Ireland amateur team and earned one cap for the Irish League representative side.
Billy McAvoy was a Northern Irish footballer who played in the Irish League as an inside-right with Ards in the 1960s and 1970s. McAvoy won one international cap for the Northern Ireland under-23 team. He also played for the Northern Ireland amateur team and earned one cap for the Irish League representative side.
The Big Two derby, also referred to simply as the Big Two or Bel Classico, is the name given to the association football derby between Belfast clubs, Linfield and Glentoran. The derby is also sometimes referred to as the Belfast derby. They are the two most successful and most supported clubs in Northern Ireland league football. They traditionally face each other on Boxing Day each year which usually attracts the largest NIFL Premiership attendance of the season. They regularly play each other in the league, and have contested more cup finals together than any other two clubs. They also make up two of the three clubs that have competed in every season of Northern Ireland's top flight since its inception in 1890 – neither club ever suffering relegation.
The Northern Ireland Football League, also known as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the league in its current format created in 2013 to assume independent collective management of the top three levels of the Northern Ireland football league system; namely the Premiership, Championship and Premier Intermediate League.
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