‘Bet McLean’ Irish League Cup: A Final of Promise

The final of this season’s BetMcLean League Cup final has been pushed back a month.

But what a showpiece it should be, with Coleraine, the Irish league’s best-supported club so far this season against Cliftonville, who will pull in big numbers for a Cup Final which seems certain to be staged at the National Stadium.

Each side plays attractive football, it’s a fitting pairing for the final between two clubs which have performed consistently well over the first half of this season. The occasion when it arrives could attract between 8-10,000, deeming Windsor Park as the only viable venue.

Holders Coleraine earned their final place this evening by walloping hapless Warrenpoint Town, who had Gavin Peers red-carded, 6-1, while Cliftonville also eased to victory registering three times against David Jeffrey’s Ballymena United without reply.

The final was originally scheduled for Saturday, February 19th. But the NI Football League after talks with all four semi-finalists has announced it will now be played on a date in March.

In a slightly baffling statement they declared, “The decision to reschedule the final later in the football calendar will assist in growing the competition and maximizing the event for all parties involved.”