(Before match begins)
Both teams are making their way onto the pitch. One of these teams will be able to secure their place in the European conference league if they win the match. Ian McNabb will act as referee for the game.
00:00
Kick Off: The match has begun, with Glentoran in possession of the ball.
06:03
Defender Luke Turner, of the Cliftonville team, manages to head the ball away from his team’s net. While Turner may have previously considered quitting football in the past, he still managed to expertly head a long ball away from his team’s goal. This demonstrates that the 20-year-old is nevertheless clearly gifted at the sport.
16:53
More than fifteen minutes into the match and both teams are yet to score. Glentoran has come the closest to scoring with a few near misses. It is clear from the current standoff that both teams are demonstrating expert defending, with both teams desperate to win their place in the European conference league.
30:00
Half an hour into the match and both Glentoran and Cliftonville are still yet to score.
34:39
Key Event: First goal of the game goes to Glentoran, as striker Junior Chukwuemeka Ogedi-Uzokwe scores the penalty. Junior first signed up to the Glentoran team just a few months ago after becoming agent free, following his departure from league of Ireland club Bohemians back in January of 2023.
39:36
Key Event: GOAL!! Junior scores again giving a 2-0 lead to Glentoran. Despite Robbie Burns being Glentoran’s player of the year, Junior Chukwuemeka Ogedi-Uzokwe was the only player on both sides who was able to score any goals at all during the first half. Junior’s expert striking secured his team the lead before half-time.
43:44
Two players on opposing sides have collided into each other. The Cliftonville teammate has been assessed by the medic. Glentoran’s official Twitter account had this to say about the collision. “Glentoran Player of the Season Bobby Burns and Christopher Curran both go in on a 50:50 ball. Burns walks away but Curran has stayed down. After some treatment he’s OK to continue.”.
45:00 Half time
The Glentoran team are currently leading 0-2 and seem to have the win in the bag. But matches can have surprising comebacks, so it is best to keep watching to see the result.
69:43
Key Event: Cliftonville player substitute Donal Rocks was sent off after just two minutes on the pitch, due to him receiving a red card from referee Ian McNabb, after Rocks tackled Glentoran player Terry Delvin. This must have been particularly crushing for the 22-year-old football player, considering he was forced to sit out of the entirety of the 2020/21 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
90:00
Four minutes of extra time have been added to the match, with Glentoran player of the year Bobby Burns being substituted. Bobby collected his award before the match begun, and received a round of applause from the Glentoran fans as he walked off pitch for the last game of the Irish league.
94:15
Glentoran midfielder Hrvoje Plum unfortunately scored a breakaway goal mere seconds after the referee blew his whistle to stop the match. So, his goal was sadly not counted.
94:36
The match has ended with victory going to Glentoran with a score of 2-0. Glentoran have now qualified for the European conference league after winning the final. Worthy winners due to the dedicated yet fair performance on display at today’s match. Cliftonville also played well but some of their players had received yellow and red cards.
(After the match)
Junior is now considered the hero for the Glens, after his double in the first half of the match, which sealed the Glentoran’s place in the European conference league. After the match the 29-year-old striker then commented on his penalty shot to Belfast Telegraph: “I played with Nathan at Derry and took a lot of penalties against him… to be fair I’ve done a few Panenkas against him, but I just thought I’d do something he wouldn’t expect.” The Panenka being a penalty shootout technique, named after Czech attacker Antonin Panenka.