The 2005/2006 Irish football season concluded with the customary Irish Cup final. Sponsors, Nationwide, in their final hurrah of supporting the historic competition, got what the general public had wanted. A Big two final between Linfield and
Glentoran.

Normally a match up between the two Belfast giants is enough to get the juices flowing but this was a season in which the blue half of Belfast took a clean sweep of domestic trophies.

The season began back in August, with the terrible news that Coleraine FC was on the brink of closure and losing their place in the Irish League. News came from the club that they owed thousands of pounds to Inland Revenue and attempts to come to an agreement were slim. However, a glimmer of hope emerged and the clubs went into administration and were allowed to take their place in the league.

As is custom in recent years, the League Cup kicked off the Irish football season, amid much criticism from fans. It is viewed as an inferior competition and most clubs would prefer to kick start the season with the beginning of the Irish Premier Division. The final was another Big Two occasion and Linfield gained first blood over their Belfast rivals with a comprehensive 3-0 victory, with Glenn ? Spike? Ferguson scoring a sublime hat trick.

The League kicked off shortly after the Group stages of the League Cup and with news sponsors in Carnegie. Linfield immediately set the pace and one of the highlights of the opening few rounds of matches was the 9-2 victory over Institute. The goals were flowing for the Windsor Park side and Linfield striker Peter Thompson gained recognition for his goal scoring accolades with an international call up. Thompson proved to be a key figure for the Windsor Park outfit and scouts from across the water were in regular attendance at Windsor Park.

Elsewhere in the league Portadown and Glentoran were leading the rest of the chasing pack with Dungannon Swifts also fighting it out, in what was a magnificent season for Joe McAree?s side.

The league may still be the main prize on offer for Irish League sides but the All Ireland Setanta Cup was proving to a be a huge hit, in only its second season. Linfield had become All Ireland champions in the first inaugural final at Tolka Park against Shelbourne and they faced a tough task of retaining the trophy when they were placed in a difficult group of Derry City, Shelbourne and Glentoran. Linfield breezed through to the semi-finals and in their final group game they thumped local rivals Glentoran. Unfortunately the Belfast side found the going tough against a slick Drogheda United side and after the game Linfield maestro Davy Jeffrey hinted at the need for full time status in Irish league football. Drogheda edged out Cork City in
the final and capped off a wonderful campaign with the All Ireland title.

Everything was not so rosy at the bottom of the Irish Premier Division and homeless Ards were propping up the table and with several other clubs facing the prospect of relegation to the second tier. Relegation proved to be the end of Omagh Town and it is something feared by the Premier division sides.

Linfield went the entire League campaign undefeated until they were torn apart by Lisburn Distillery on the day they received the League title, ending their unbeaten domestic run.

Ards will be playing in the First Division next season and Institute who were defeated by Donegal Celtic in the relegation play off joined them. This was an historic occasion for the Suffolk Road based side and they joined the top tier for the first time in their history. However, doubts still remain as to whether they can have their ground up to Premier League standards. If not they could perhaps share Solitude with Cliftonville.

Stephen Baxter guided Crusaders straight back to top tier as they went up as champions.

Linfield dominated the County Antrim shield once more and they were lucky to defeat a plucky Ballymena United side, which enjoyed a fairly successful season with Kevin Kelbie proving to be one of the discoveries of the season.

The Irish Cup was a major attraction once again this year and the achievements of Newington YC were a great boost for the competition. They reached the quarterfinals and were unlucky to be defeated by Larne. The semi finals kept the ? Big Two? apart and as predicted we witnessed a Belfast Big Two final at Windsor Park. Linfield completed the clean sweep with Thompson scoring the winner in an eventful game, which was incident free. Something the organizers were keen to have after last year?s scenes at the Oval.

Further down the divisions, Ballyclare and Ballymoney will be playing second division football and Portstewart and Ballinamallard have taken their places.

Ballinamallard have enjoyed much success at every level this season and their youth team lifted the Harry Cavan Youth Cup, defeating St Oliver Plunkett in the final at Mourneview Park. The future bodes well for Ballinamallard and they could spring a surprise or two in the First division next season.

It may seem strange that two sides that both hail from the same country have not played each other in a competitive game in such a long period of time. In 1973 Derry City were forced to leave the Northern Irish League because of safety concerns. It was not until 1987 that Derry City decided a return to competitive football would be a wise decision and instead of returning to the Irish League they became part of the League of Ireland.

Linfield on the other hand remain one of Northern Ireland?s most successful club sides but they have yet to establish themselves in European competitions. In 2005 the media in the south and the north predicted that talks had been on going between officials from each association and it had been leaked to the press that an All Ireland competition would be set up. The two associations had come to an agreement to stage the first ever All Ireland cup which would involved three of the best Eircom League sides and three of the top club sides from the Northern Irish premier division. The two leagues had grown apart in more ways than one and FAI had taken the decision to move the Eircom League to the summer time to deal with trouble with pitches and player fatigue and more importantly hopes of financial gains.

The Premier Division in Northern Ireland remained in its current slot of August to May. With the change of the footballing season to the summer time some Eircom league sides took the opportunity to move to full time status whilst their northern counterparts remained on part time status. It was seen as a controversial decision at the time and many wondered would the change to summer football really make much difference. The answer was YES! In the first season Eircom league clubs found that the change to summer football was a huge success. Many clubs changed their matches to Friday nights and crowds were flocking back to watch football.

Was the reason for the increasing in gate receipts down to the change to Friday night football or was it simply down to summer football and at a time when there is no major football on television? The change of season has also affected the players and Brian Kerr selected Bohemians striker Glen Crowe for several of his international squads and further down the age groups Eircom League players were making their presence felt.

For years, league players had been used to slogging through the winter season in harsh conditions more rewarding to endurance and strength than skill. With the change to the summer footballing season teams have been forced to adapt to a style of football that comes with playing during the summer months. After all, most people who attend soccer matches want to see attractive ?sexy football?. Teams no longer will want to hoof the ball forward anymore, they will want to retain possession and play football that everyone will enjoy.
On the other hand the Irish Football Association have been left puzzled as to how to revamp football in the north and get on the same playing field as their southern counterparts. Dwindling gate receipts and poor attendances have left the local game in disarray and despite a proposed injection of investment into Northern Irish soccer, the association is still left wondering what should be done to save football in Northern Ireland. It could be said that the failure of the local game had a detrimental effect on the national side and they went through an agonizing 1298 minutes without scoring a goal whilst their southern counterparts were enjoying much success in the World Cup in 2002.

Some critics of the Premier Division in Northern Ireland argue that the reason for the poor attendances and lack of income into the game was due to the fact that the IFA had ignored the idea of moving to a summer season and expanding the main league to sixteen sides. The league in the Republic left the size of their league to ten teams. Was it the question of quality not quantity? The failure of the league to develop at home has had affects on the top sides progressing in Europe and it was an annual occurrence for the Irish leagues top sides to be knocked out of European by sides from Lithuania and Estonia. In 2004 Shelbourne the Eircom League champions held Deportivo La Coruna of Spain to a 0-0 draw at Lansdowne Road, sure testimony as to how the league down south had developed and progressed. In that same year Linfield fell at the first hurdle and lost on both legs to HJK Helsinki of Finland.

In the past few years, however, the Irish League has shown their southern counterparts that they have upped the anti and Glentoran have defeated AC Allianssi to progress to the next round of the UEFA Cup. The Setanta All Ireland Cup will provide the top sides from each nation a chance to show that Irish football is on the rise once more and last year the North overpowered the South courtesy of a 2-0 final victory for Linfield over Shelbourne at Tolka Park. This was seen as a huge achievement and it was some sort of consolation for Linfield having already thrown away the Irish League title to Glentoran. In 2006, will the South get revenge over their Northern rivals or will the North regain its crown?. We will just have to sit back and watch as events unfold in the next couple of months.