As much as I try to avoid it, I keep returning to Seaview. Semi-final games are played at neutral venues, and this time I was almost pleased to be back at the home of Crusaders.
The other semi-final, Cliftonville v Ards, was played at Windsor Park, and while it should have been my ‘winner stays on’ game, I was pleased to have avoided the tie due to a previously arranged night out.
I didn’t want to go to the site of the final before it was time for the last game of the journey. It didn’t quite feel right; thankfully, with my diary’s intervention, I was free to visit the other semi-final, Bangor v Dungannon Swifts.
There were 1,500+ Bangor fans in attendance for this game. It felt like a big deal, three sides of the ground bedecked with yellow and blue flags, balloons and singing. Tales of people flying home for the game filled the stands and in the corner I was situated in, you could barely hear any noise from the equally loyal, but noticeably smaller Dungannon section.
A 5:30 pm kick-off meant some boys were on it early, and some had drank way beyond their limits. Nothing problematic unless you found yourself in the splash zone. Slightly more troublesome were the actions of some fans behind the goal of our stand, singing some songs that, let’s face it, should be eradicated in a modern Northern Ireland and even at one stage throwing a flare on to the pitch behind their goalkeeper!
I‘ve no real problem with the flare in the stand; these things add a bit of atmosphere if handled the right way. There are ways and means of these becoming part of the fan culture if handled correctly. The singing of certain songs, however, is unnecessary unwelcome and unwanted.
In truth, though, these weren’t true Bangor fans. These weren’t lads who are there every week, up and down the roads of the Championship. These were, I would wager, blow-ins, there for the occasion and not the team.
Fans brought them to the attention of the disinterested Eventsec staff and asked for their removal, to no avail. But, at half-time, the flare-throwing culprits were identified and removed, which seemed to dampen their ‘entusiams’ significantly.
To the game then, which on the surface could appear fairly even but in truth Dungannon held Bangor at arms length for significant periods. A trickier task in the second half, with a swirling Seaview wind to contend with, but Dungannon dealt with everything thrown at them and never appeared hugely flustered by it.
Ben Arthurs, scourge of many a Championship defence, found himself played out of the game largely with a clever Dungannon backline able to reduce the space given and match the muscle he attempted to inflict on them.
Bangor were never out of the game, but they also weren’t given the freedom that some sides will give you the Championship to play your game. Perhaps a warning ahead of what we all expect to be a promotion-winning season. The gameplan may require adjustment to endure a season in the top flight.
As for Dungannon, their season has won them many admirers up and down the league, and it seems that European adventures may yet await. On a personal level, as a Newcastle fan, it was great to see Gael Bigirimana loving life in the Dungannon blue and controlling most of the play in midfield, and Currie, the scorer of the second goal and inevitable winner, was unflappable in defence.
For now, though, with a handful of league games to go, it’s the Irish Cup final that awaits Dungannon and one game left to get hands on the cup. Cliftonville will be the opponents, having dispatched the other side of North Down with relative ease. While their league form has been patchy, they have cup competition pedigree as the current Irish Cup holders and the winners of this year’s League Cup.
On 3rd May 2025, at Windsor Park, the journey ends.
Who lifts the Cup may be, at this point, too close to call.
