Big Games North & South

Carnegie Premier League

Coleraine v Crusaders
Marty Quinn's squad repaid their manager's renewed loyalty, with an improved performance against table toppers Glentoran last week. The scoreline typified the Bannsiders season, with goals flying in at both ends of the park. Crusaders have made a flying return to the top flight, and bounced back from their CIS cup semi final defeat with victory against the Villagers last week. This could be a tight one.

2/1 Coleraine
2/1 Draw
5/4 Crusaders


Donegal Celtic v Linfield
All eyes will be on Donegal Celtic Park when the Blues come to town. DC have raised their game against the top sides thus far, but have disappointed ottherwise. Paul McAreavey may be missing from a Linfield side which rediscovered last season's fluency when he returned to the side against Larne. Can Paddy Kelly's men obstruct the gathering momentum of DJ's Blue menace at Suffolk Road?

13/2 Donegal Celtic
11/4 Draw
2/5 Linfield


Dungannon Swifts v Ballymena Utd
Two sides who have suffered disappointing starts to the season, meet at Stangmore Park, when Ballymena United are the visitors. The Swifts can ill afford to drop any points here if they want to stay in touch with the Top 4; Ballymena need a win even at this stage of the season, to pull themselves into some sort of contention. The Sky Blues will have their work cut out for them to take anything away from Harry Fay's side.

5/6 Dungannon
9/4 Draw
11/4 Ballymena Utd


Glenavon v Limavady Utd
Glenavon may give Aidan Harper a start against Limavady United at Mourneview, after his impressive cameo last weekend. Man-mountain centre half, David Atiba Charles, has been away on international duty; it remains to be seen if the long journey affects his performance. The Lurgan Blues ran headlong into the in- form Karl Bermingham of Newry City in their last outing, and he brought their run of 3 successive wins to an abrupt end. However, the Roesiders have little to be proud of; with only one league victory to this point- the infamous win over Coleraine which almost pushed Marty Quinn over the edge!

10/11 Glenavon
9/4 Draw
5/2 Limavady


Larne v Portadown
Marty Tabb takes charge of leaky Larne when they host Portadown at Inver Park. Ports will be without Gary Liggett for a while through injury, but Wes Boyle if picked will be a capable deputy. Sometimes managerial change can create a temporary improvement in a side's performance, this is about as much as the Inver Park faithful can hope for. Ronnie McFall's men have collected 13 points from their last five games, and will offer no mercy to the port side.

11/2 Larne
12/5 Draw
1/2 Portadown


Lisburn Distillery v Armagh City
The fixture list has been unkind to the Eagles who've faced all the top 5 sides in their opening games. Things have looked more promising since then for Gary McKinstry's side. The Whites have been predictably erratic. After a solid start, results have begun to slip, and the suspensions of Wayne Buchanan, Ryan Catney and Darren Armour make this fixture a potential googly for Paul Kirk's men.

4/7 Lisburn
12/5 Draw
9/2 Armagh


Loughgall v Cliftonville
After only eight games, the Villagers have tasted defeat on six occasions this season. That being said, the meagre points total which they've harvested has been gathered exclusively at their home venue. With Cliftonville providing the opposition at Lakeview Park, there seems to be only one possible outcome.

11/2 Loughall
12/5 Draw
1/2 Cliftonville


Newry City v Glentoran
This is a tasty tie for the neutral. Newry City are the only side to have inflicted defeat on the East Belfast side this term. Roy Coyle has picked up a gem in the shape of the aforementioned Karl Bermingham; and the improved Glentoran backline will need to be on high alert to prevent the Dubliner from adding to his 4 goals in 3 games. Darren Lockhart is out for Windy Millar's side, but they have plenty of class in reserve. Since THAT embarrassing CIS Cup defeat, the Newrymen are unbeaten, while the Glenmen have not been as dominant of late as they were earlier this term.

10/3 Newry City
9/4 Draw
8/11 Glentoran

Eircom League

Shelbourne v Bohemians
This end of season game and title decider is a real riddle. Bohs would love nothing better than to stop Shels from winning the league title, and they have been awkward opponents for the Reds each time they clashed this season. But the chief problem is Bohs just don't look to have the players at the moment to trouble Shels. It looks like they will be forced to play a centre back (Jason McGuinness) up front, and have 'kids' fill out half of the team.
The flipside is that new Bohs manager Sean Connor will be taking his first look at his new team in this clash, so several of the Bohs players are to some extent playing for their contracts. Shels have doubts over one or two players, but nothing their classy squad can't cope with.

There's no doubt Shels are worthy favourites for the game but there is an element of 'cup final' about the game with massive motivation from both sides. Any value in the prices is in opposing Shels.

4/11 Shelbourne
3/1 Draw
13/2 Bohemians


Derry City v Cork City
Stephen Kenny's last game at The Brandywell is sure to be an emotive one. Derry still have an outside chance of snatching the league title on the line, while Cork are looking to grab runners-up spot. It would be a big enough ask for Cork to take a win in front of a vociferous Candystripes crowd against the team with the best home form in the league - but the visitors are also looking very light in midfield as Joe Gamble and Colin O'Brien sit this one out on the sidelines. Derry to take the points and push the title race right to the wire.

EVS Derry City
2/1 Draw
5/2 Cork City