Saturday 7 September
Kick Off 3pm
Off we go to Stangmore Park on Saturday for what should be another cracking game.
Rodney McAree’s Swifts have enjoyed a solid start to the league campaign; they suffered narrow defeats away to Linfield and Cliftonville but opened the campaign with a home draw against Coleraine and have beaten Ballymena United at home and - most recently - Loughgall away last weekend and sit in fifth place in the early season table.
A disappointing afternoon in Cyprus as a first half 3 goal deficit was just too much for the Glens to make up and the squad will not now make the group stages ofv the UEFA Women's Champions League.
Chief Coach Kim Turner had a full-strength squad available bar the injured Emma McMaster. So a strong mixture of experience and youth in both the starting lineup and on the bench.
An injury time James Singleton goal and a successful penalty shootout saved the Glens' blushes and progressed us through to the quarter final of the County Antrim Shield after a night of profligacy in front of goal at the Blanchflower Stadium tonight.
Declan Devine made five changes from Saturday’s win over Cliftonville, giving debuts to Andrew Mills, Danny Amos and Finley Thondike and a first start to Kodi Lyons-Foster. Jay Donnelly also started and Fuad Sule was serving a one match suspension.
Congratulations to Dylan Connolly on winning the supporters vote for August Glentoran Player of the Month for August.
Winning this award in his first month at Glentoran demonstrates how quickly the tricky winger has settled in to his new surroundings.
Manger Declan Devide said of the win: "Having worked so closely with Dylan at Bohemians, I knew how well he would go down with Glentoran supporters. He's a very exciting player who really makes things happen and as the season progresses and the squad gels we'll see a great contribution from Dylan."
Tuesday 3 September
Kick Off 7.45
We start our quest for this season’s County Antrim Shield with a visit down the Holywood Road to face our local neighbours at H&W Welders.
The Welders have made a great start to the season and after five games sit top of the Playr Fit Championship with ten points from five games. They top the table on goal difference from Limavady United, a situation boosted by a 7-2 away win over Ballyclare Comrades on Saturday.
Tickets to our Sports Direct Premiership game at the Ballymena Showgrounds on Saturday 14th September are now available from the link below:
Glentoran Women set off to Cyprus tomorrow to play their opening tie in the UEFA Champions League.
The match is this Wednesday (4th September) when they face Slovenian Champions NS Mura in the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium in Paphos, KO is 3pm UK time.
The winners of this will play the winners of the other group tie between Apollon Ladies FC (Cyprus) vs Pyunik Women (Armenia) for a place in the group stages. That tie will also be played in Cyprus on Saturday afternoon.
Given that it was sandwiched between last week’s excellent County Antrim Cup Final victory and Monday’s departure for Cyprus and the Champions League, it was always likely this one would be a relatively subdued affair. So it proved in the first half after an early two goal burst.
The Glens were two up in seven minutes. The first one came from Aimee Kerr followed three minutes later as skipper Jess Foy continued her impressive goal scoring form with a back post header, converting Demi Vance’s corner from the right.
A second minute wonder strike from Jordan Jenkins was the difference on paper between the two teams today at the Bet McLean Oval. But the scoreline didn’t do justice to an overall Glentoran performance of grit, determination and positivity all over the pitch and throughout the team against a strong and previously unbeaten Reds team.
Niall McGinn has returned to Scotland to join Greenock Morton on loan.
Niall has scored 16 goals in his 62 appearances since joining us in January 2023. His latest was our last minute winner at Portadown 2 weeks ago.
Thanks to Niall for his complete commitment, his quality and some special moments in the past season and a half and all the very best in Greenock.
