Your weekly sports recap

As always, starting from a busy back page, Ruaidhri Higgins believes the club’s supporters have a huge role to play in the final few months of what is turning into an intriguing race for the title.
The Bannsiders - backed by a noisy home support - racked up a 12th home league win of the campaign on Friday night with a 1-0 defeat of Ballymena United. They are on the road this weekend - away to Dungannon Swifts on Saturday - when the players are expected to be backed by a large travelling support.

Derry will welcome Cork to Find Insurance Celtic Park for a game that will have a big bearing on the promotion hopes of both teams. They beat Cork in the 1993 All Ireland final and also in the minor final two years previously. In more recent times they have met three times with Derry winning twice and the other was a draw. In the current campaign Cork have started well and tended to build up decent leads but have had to hang on in the closing stages as teams like Cavan and Offaly closed the gap considerably leaving them hanging at the final whistle. A win for Derry would put them top of the table in a game that looks very close. 

Prestigious venues in Great Britain and Ireland - including Royal Portrush - will host The R&A’s amateur championships and international matches in 2027.
The 132nd Amateur Championship will be staged at Royal Portrush – host to The 153rd Open last summer – from 14–19 June.

Football

Coleraine were the winners in the derby match on Friday night after Will Patching netted the first and only goal of the evening to push Coleraine in the right direction and hot on the boots of current League leaders Larne FC - keeping things close and interesting at the top. 

Larne, for so long seemingly easing their way to another Gibson Cup success, were abruptly stopped in their tracks by the team of the moment, Carrick Rangers. Trailing 3-0 at half-time to their east Antrim rivals, the Inver Park men mounted something of a comeback in the second half but were unable to arrest the damage, slipping to a shock 3-2 defeat.

In the Championship Limavady maintained their lead at the top despite dropping points to Loughgall after a scoreless draw on Saturday afternoon. Loughgall looked to push ahead with a second-half goal, but thankfully for the Roesiders, it was declared offside. There wasn't much in the game - the main takeaway from the afternoon was that the top three sides all dropped points, maintaining a nice gap between first and second, while third-place H&W Welders have begun to trail behind in the promotional push.

Limavady face Dundela on Friday evening in their first of many back-to-back away games before a hopeful return to the Limavady Showgrounds.

In the tier below Portstewart enjoyed a four-goal victory in what is more than safe to say, an easy enough afternoon for John Gregg's side as they knocked Knockbreda back and secured the clean sheet and all three points in the later stages of the League campaign. They are on the road to Mill Meadow against League leaders Moyola Park this week with high hopes of continuing winning ways.

GAA

Derry's renaissance under Ciaran Meenagh is gathering pace as the Oak Leafer's bid for an immediate return to Division One gathered further pace thanks to a 23 point hammering of Offaly in Find Insurance Celtic Park on Saturday night.
The normally pristine surface of the venue has darkened due to the number of games and training sessions that have taken place there in the wettest winter for over century. Derry made light of the sticky conditions to steam roller a young Offaly team, jointly managed by former Derry boss Mickey Harte. Derry were superior in every facet of the game but, in reality, this was an Offaly team slipping back to Division Three.

Saint Loman’s grounds in Trim are in the heartland of Meath hurling and as Derry and other teams have found out it is a hard place to get points out of. For three quarters of the game Derry looked like pulling off a famous win but the concession of some late frees cost them dear. However, given the turnover of players from last year this was a good performance from Johnny McGarvey’s side. They had a handsome interval lead of 1-12 to 0-7 but had to face the elements in the second half and Meath used them well outscoring Derry by 1-13 to 0-6 in those thirty five minutes.

Golf

Donald Smyth, from Division Three, won Castlerock Golf Club’s Saturday Stableford after a tie break with 34 points scored from his mark of twenty-three. Donald didn’t score at the first or the ninth, but he pulled 19 points from the seven between those. He dropped just two shots in the back five to add in 15 points for the winning tally of 34 and a last nine score of 23 in the countback.

Eight points from nine handicap David Higgins secured his win in the fifteen-hole Saturday Stablefords at Portstewart Golf Club at the weekend. He made his intentions clear from the start by nabbing an opening hole eagle two and adding a birdy three at the second. His birdy three on the ninth saw David at the turn in one under par and with 26 points scored.
An ordinary, by his standards, two over par back six added 13 points to David’s card for his winning tally of 38.

Stephen Cave won the thirteen-hole Riverside Stableford at Portstewart Golf Club on Saturday with a 33-point card off a handicap of ten. He birdied the fifth in three but then missed out at the sixth in getting 17 points for his outward seven.
A one over par inward six added 16 points to the card for Stephen’s winning tally of 33.

For full reports and pictures across the Borough's sports, see this week's Coleraine Chronicle.