Windsor Park
Windsor Park
Thursday 15 July 2010
Europa League Second Qualifying Round, 1st Leg
Cliftonville 1 HNK Cibalia 0
My first trip to Northern Ireland, and my first match involving a team from the Northern Irish league. This was also the final ground needed to tick-off the UK national team stadiums – Windsor Park, home of the Northern Irish national team and Linfield, the great rivals of Cliftonville. Due to the pitch being relaid at their Solitude home, Cliftonville were forced to play at Windsor Park due to the lack of grounds in Northern Ireland meeting UEFA standards.
Having spent all day wandering around the Falls Road area of Belfast, we headed over to a pub on Lisburn Road to meet some friends ahead of kick-off. Due to road closures around the ground, both due to Cliftonville playing there and the riots in the city on the previous two evenings, this meant a taxi journey instead of a short walk along the Broadway. After a few beers it was taxi time again to the ground and a short walk along a barbed-wire topped tunnel to the turnstile. Windsor Park is quite old, and it certainly shows. We were in with the Cliftonville fans in an all-seater stand behind one of the goals. To the left was a larger, all-seater stand and to the right a smaller stand with terracing at the front and seats at the back, containing a small number of the travelling Croats. Opposite us was a smaller stand with a few seats. Not the prettiest ground, but considering Linfield play here and there’s a shortage of money within the Northern Irish domestic league, it’s rather understandable.
The game was decent enough. Most of the Cliftonville fans held little hope of getting a result, but hoped that the score would be kept close so that the lads travelling to Croatia for the return the following week might see a competitive 90 minutes. With a 1-0 victory they got more than that. Cibalia played almost as though it was a pre-season match, keeping possession but threatening little while Clitonville played with plenty of heart and were well deserved winners. The goal came with eight minutes remaining and the ‘home’ team could have grabbed another as they finished strongly. The best player on the pitch was Boyce, who had recently been scouted by Barcelona and Celtic (sounded comical before the game, his touch and movement soon changed that). The crowd came alive after the goal, with a few songs livening up the Belfast evening.
After the match we headed back out of the ground to Boucher Road. The Cliftonville fans were all being transported away by coach, while police lines kept back some of the loyalist locals who had gathered to introduce themselves. Once again it was a taxi job for us, this time heading to the centre of the city for a late bar. Despite receiving some rather sage advice to head to The Crown, we went with the majority to Lavery’s. An old bar with an off-license in the corner ensured that I tripped over carrier bags laden with booze on a number of occasions.
Gannin' Away 
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Check out what others are saying...[…] In Northern Ireland there is the Belfast Big Two derby between Linfield and Glentoran but to me the big derby has to include Cliftonville, my team over the Irish Sea whose fans were so friendly to me and other FC United travellers during a Belfast trip in July 2010 that included the HNK Cibalia game. […]