- Lagan celebrates his first of two stunners
Just like Bulgarian soccer flew onto our radar a few months ago, Northern Ireland is trying to establish itself as a UF favorite destination. Once again, it’s for all of the wrong reasons. For those who do not remember, or are Redditors looking at Dani’s fail vid and sticking around for a bit, last week saw one Norn Iron team rat out another as too bankrupt to compete in a bankrupt TV network’s invitational competition. Today we see another cup failure, and a punch-up on par with the best that South America has to offer.
In the misleadingly-named-to-me-because-I-am-American Irish Cup, the top-flight side Newry City hosted second-tier Larne in the fifth round. Match details are harder to come by than police reports on this match, but the best I can piece together is that Newry took the lead, Larne equalized and the Newry scored again somewhere around the 75th minute. Then, as we’ll see below in the pictures, it kicked off with a red card to Larne’s captain Liam Hogan in the 80th minute. Larne’s manager was sent off a couple of minutes later, and the brawl was on.
I’ve put these in the order I think they happened, which is little tough since the various news sites have them jumbled. Enjoy!
- Larne captain Liam Hogan earns his red on Darren King
- In the aftermath of another hard tackle on King, the two sides get pushy
- Larne gaffer Paul Millar is then sent off
- Millar does not take it well
- About to touch off
- Newry's Cullen Feeny gets tripped by an unnamed sub
- With Feeney down, Larne goal scorer Anthony Lagan goes for a brace
- And connects
- A little too late, Newry's #8 goes after the unnamed sub that tripped Feeney
- Darren King, the man who bore the brunt of at least one, maybe two, red cards (reports conflict), gets helped off
- Larne do not go quietly into that good night
There you have it, Northern Ireland is suitably embarrassed and police are looking at video footage (which, unfortunately, has not surface yet). Oh, and the match was abandoned and both teams are likely to be tossed from the cup. I can’t wait until the next Northern Irish story pops up. To top this, it will have to be a doozy.
And, yes, much like you, every time I see Larne, I read Lame. Damn font.
I definitely read it as “Lame,” but I’m blind. Daniel Day Lewis is already getting ready for his role as Liam Hogan.
There should be a tournament involving Northern Irish clubs, a number of South American clubs, and CFR Cluj. It could be televised opposite the Club World Championships. I would watch.
EF: that’s the most idea ever! I would pay big money for that on PPV (I think)
kicking a guy, full force in the head while he’s laying on the ground? in my opinion, that guy shouldn’t be allowed to play again. He could have killed him or left him severely brain damaged.
Don’t know if it was in one of the ones I linked to, but Feeney suffered nothing more than cuts and bruises. Not that such a lack of injury excuses a kick to the head, of course.
@JT: The prize would have to be extraordinary to ensure the clubs/players act in the most blatantly childish and unprofessional manner possible. Something like $1b in transfer funds for three seasons, or an automatic place in the CL Finals.
In the last pic it appears as though a Larne player is about to leave a nice green “present” for the home side to clean up.