Kicking Match: An Irish League Podcast

One of the biggest weeks in the Northern Irish football calendar. With our bellies fully of copious amounts of mini-foods and the head splitting from the Christmas doo, we put all that festive spirt of companionship and unity to one side for 90 minutes, as the annual Boxing Day derby slate welcomes in bumper crowds.  We look back at the games that did go ahead this weekend past, preview NIFL'...

Where there is a will there is a way. And sometimes 'the will' looks like a large cannister of propane. Plastic pitches came up trumps this weekend for the three games in the NIFL Premiership, while Portadown's pitch proved it may be the Bear Grylls  of the league by pulling through to host their first home win since March. Shamrock Park has seen more adversities over the years than some merg...

While the weather might make you think of jumping into a set of skiing overalls and swagger your way down to a game, the action on the pitch provided plenty of fire as the title chase continues to heat up. Crusaders claim supremacy over Glentoran as the East Belfast side's form continues to slide. Linfield make it ten unbeaten over the weekend as Cliftonville get a front row seat to the McDaid sho...

Middlesbrough can host 34,000 at the Riverside, could Glentoran be able to host as many by the side of the Belfast harbour? That's if the potential suggestions by their owner Ali Pour on a new home for the East Belfast men becomes a reality, we talk to Matthew Brown of the Shout At The Oval podcast.  North West sports journalist Johnny McNabb joins the podcast this week to chat through the we...

It was a category 5 baltic weekend just past, and while most fans are wrapping themselves up, Glentoran thought wrapping Conor McMenamin in cotton wool this winter was for the birds. With the icy air it was up to the leading pack to not slip and fall as we stake towards the busy festive period. Matthew Brown from the Shout at the Oval podcast is our guest this week and tackles all the tough topics...

A week of drama on and off the pitch, with the league's premier player facing a potential multi-month lay off due to an injury sustained from a controversial tackle which only resulted in a yellow card. Fans and manager were furious, but did some heat of the moment comments cross a line? With Glentoran stuttering this week, the chasing pack have remained unrelenting with Larne claiming top spot af...

If you think your local town sticking up Christmas decorations is a tad early, have a thought for Glentoran fans don’t know what to think right now, as everybody else is saying we may as well tie the red, black and green ribbons around the Gibson cup already. Big week of games means a huge pod. This week Peter is joined by Cool FM sports reporter Gareth McCullough. 

We're in the peak of Autumn and as the leaves change many clubs in the Irish League are following suit. Be it who's on top of the league to their manager, teams are shaking it up. Niall Currie returns to the Ports as manager but at this stage guiding them to safety looks like a bigger task than a three point turn in the Suez Canal. Could Dungannon be dipping into the managerial market soon as thei...

The only thing more scary than losing to one title rival in a week, is losing to a second one. But something even more bone chilling would be to find out you might not even be title challengers yourself anymore!!! Now that is eerie!  The fact that there was three 4-2 wins just feels like a coincidence now. With goals galore and a cohort of title challengers emerging, we called up a man who ha...

From a rip roaring BelClassico to a 5 minute hatrick, this Irish League season has officially thrown off the shackles of early season chin scratching, has has now entered the sphere of known quantities. The good teams are looking great and those lagging behind have barely left the traps. What this really means is that Glentoran could not look more impressive, while Larne's glow up from last season...

These top six teams just can't get out of each other's way, and unfortunately for us this effective truce is creating games more boring than your kids school play. That is except for Glentoran who just keep winning and doing it in style. But a new game week beckons and so does the first BelClassico of the season.  Can Linfield jump start their season? Is the split already set in stone and cou...

The podcast is back after a brief sabbatical and somehow we didn't miss a single registration snafu or a Glenavon red card, but there was a game called off for bad weather so no clean Irish League bingo card for us.  One of the most well informed and straight talking journos in the country makes his debut for this jam packed pod as we welcome Mark McIntosh from the Sun.  There continue to be quest...

We play a unique team building game where two fellow Irish League podcasters Mark and Owen from the Fly Nets Podcast (not Mark Owen from Take That, he knows nothing about Irish League Football...I think) pick their fantasy XI to join the Irish league made up of current Irish League players. There are a few minor rules but there's no doubt you'll get the jist. 

Better late than never and slightly different to your usual pod, but this week we serve up an in-depth preview of this forthcoming weekend's games, find out a bit more about the 13yo Glenavon debutant Christopher Atherton and ask if it's win or bust for Ian Baraclough as Northern Ireland prepare for Nations League action againist Kosovo & Greece. 

As the sun sets on this small period of time when we play football during summer, like a screaming schoolchild being grasped by the cold embrace of September, there are those who want it to be a footballing summer all the time. Obviously there's been some rather measured discourse online in reaction to these completely fresh suggestions and in the name of content we're talking about it.  We a...

Clubs in need of some retail therapy have mere hours left to add a wantaway defender or a statement signing.  We try to wade through the quagmire of hearsay, double source some transfer drama and speculate where some players could end up. Linfield turned the biggest game in their history into a four day nightmare, how will they recover? Glenavon shock the Bannsiders, Newry shock Glenavon and...

A huge podcast this week with a NI podcast legend, the Belfast Telegraph's Keith Bailie.  We discuss if in a new era of multiple full time teams are Irish League clubs are being financially responsible? What lessons can be learned from other leagues where teams faced financial meltdown, should fans be concerned and what are the warning signs they should be looking out for? Keith shares a comp...

The Irish League is back and it did not disappoint on its opening weekend.  From 9 men comebacks to ridiculously early goal of the season contenders.   Gareth Hanna joins the pod to go through it all. Who looks like they've bossed the transfer window and who have emerged as serious title challengers? We have a look through the telescope at what could be in store for GW2, we raise the cur...

It’s the second half of our NIFL Premiership season preview, and we’re coming out strong! Same line up and formation, but spurred on by your half time team talk via twitter. We also enter treacherous waters of predicting results for GW1. Like buffalo chicken wings this pod is the best Starter you could ask for ahead of the Main Course that is the return of Irish League football. Running Order: Bal...

The top tier of the Northern Irish football pyramid is set to return with 38 game weeks of rip roaring thrills that'll make Space Mountain feel like a trip down a slide.  To get the fanbases excitedly overhyped and crushingly pessimistic all at the same time, your buds at Kicking Match are serving up a towering helping of club by club previews of the season ahead as our introduction into this...