3pm 2 March 2024
Northern Ireland Football League, Premier Intermediate League
Rathfriland Rangers 3 Police Service of Northern Ireland 0 (att 100)
Having completed the three divisions of Northern Ireland's national league previously I'm at the stage where trips are required now and again to visit any new clubs and new grounds.
Rathfriland are in their debut season at this level, and their Iveagh Park home was the last remaining venue I needed to top up the set, at least until the start of next season.
It's a good set up. As you'd expect it's fully enclosed, but it's also floodlit and has a large seated stand and a decent clubhouse. With plenty of support, Rathfriland feels like a club on the up.
PSNI on the other hand feels like a team in decline. They went into this game bottom of the league, and their hopes of avoiding a second consecutive last placed finish took a dive when they conceded in the opening seconds.
Having scored with the game's first attack, it surprisingly took the home side until close to half time before they doubled their lead, courtesy of an unfortunate own goal.
Rathfriland's lead became 3-0 early in the second half. Their advantage would have reached 4-0 had a penalty, about 10 minutes from time, not been saved.
But the miss didn't matter as they saw out the game comfortably. PSNI, long-standing members of Northern Irish league football including under their previous guise of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, worked hard but rarely threatened to score.
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