The NI Matchday Blog

After a positive result on Saturday against San Marino we were playing Slovenia with a 7:45 pm kick-off at Windsor Park. We started by going to Queens Pizzeria where they were offering 20% off for any Northern Irelands going to the match and they allowed customers to bring their own booze for no added charge. Owen and I took advantage of this and shared a pizza with a 70CL bottle of Buckfast each and then headed to Lavery’s for a pint. The highlight of the match was speaking to the travelling fans at Half-Time and organising to meet them after the game for drinks at Lavery's. Slovenia ended up winning a tight affair 1-0 scoring early in the fifth minute before Northern Ireland went down to ten men in the fifty-eighth with Shea Charles getting a red card. After the match, we stuck to our promise and headed to Lavery’s to meet the Slovenia fans who were very welcoming of our company and treated us to some free drinks.  As Lavery’s was closing we decided the night was still young and ...

  It was match day in Belfast on Saturday with a win for Northern Ireland the only good outcome as they played 207th-ranked San Marino at Windsor Park. We decided to get up and after it early with kick-off at 2 p.m. and got the midday train into town to have a few pre-match pints at Lavery's. Heading into the stadium there were a few pre-match nerves that San Marino might actually be able to snatch a draw considering how badly we had been playing recently. However, these nerves were put to bed early with two quick goals from Paul Smyth and Josh Magennis in the fifth and eleventh minute. This was about the height of the excitement though as Northern Ireland took their foot off the gas and ended up running out 3-0 winners after a rainy affair at Windsor Park. The hope was that Northern Ireland would be able to push on after this win and get a good result against Slovenia on Tuesday after dominating the reverse fixture. After the match, we got a chippy from Monte Carlo and a few cans ...

The first few hours on match day in Slovenia were a bit of a struggle and began when I woke up on the floor of my hostel room with a thumping headache. My other two friends were still out for the count with one of them in what should have been my bed despite him having his own hostel room booked. Eventually Ben and I set off to meet up with the travelling fans at the Cutty Sark Pub where we had been the night before while Davey caught up on a few more hours of sleep.    A pizza and pint was all we needed to be back in full voice and we stayed at the Cutty Sark for the next four hours before we had to leave at 7 p.m. to get the supporters bus to the stadium. The bus was bouncing the whole way to the stadium with everyone on board with their carry-outs which Northern Ireland fans were allowed to drink outside the stadium in the fan zone.    The match had a quick start with Northern Ireland 1-0 down within three minutes before equalising after seven. By half-time,...

After already spending three days in Copenhagen with a lot of drinking and sightseeing it was finally matchday and I was feeling fresh after having a good night's sleep. For food, we lined our stomachs with a McDonalds’ as it was one of the only affordable things to eat in Copenhagen. Then we went to “The Old Irish Pub” just before midday and started what would be a long day of drinking with kick-off at 8:45 p.m. For Beer drinkers, this pub was a blessing as it was running a drinks promotion for Northern Ireland fans serving £2.20 pints of Carlsberg until 9 p.m. After hours of countless pints and chants, we finally set off to the stadium on the train with an hour until kick-off. The hope was that we would grab at least a point off a Denmark team that had only won one of their last five games. When we got into the stadium we decided to sit behind the goal and beside the home fans, except for Owen who didn’t make it to his seat at the first attempt and fell down half a flight of stai...

After a long day of travelling to get to Larnaca the night before, it was matchday in Cyprus and for the first time ever I was going to watch Northern Ireland play away from home. We had a quick breakfast in the hotel and then set off to an English bar by the beach in Larnaca called “The Meeting Pub” where all the fans were meeting. It was an unusual feeling as we set off to the bar and were walking in 30-degree heat which made us wonder how the players would cope playing 90 minutes in it later in the day. When we finally arrived at the bar it was absolutely rammed with Northern Ireland fans and with 5 hours to kick off we started drinking.  By the time we were getting on the supporter's bus at 4 pm, most people were steaming including myself, and morale was high with the sun beaming down. After a disappointing World Cup qualifier and a 1-0 loss to Greece three days before, we were all hoping that Northern Ireland could get a good win under their belt and a bit of momentum for...