The Castle Grounds is the place to be on Sunday for anyone connected with Cliftonville past and Cliftonville Academy present.

Current club captain Matty McCord has arranged a ‘Legends Match’ which has attracted players from the 1995-97 Senior League winning season through to young players from this season’s line-up and they have been divided into two teams for a T20 match to raise funds for the club.

The ‘golden oldies’ who have declared to play one more time, 30 years after the club’s golden era, are captains Alan Neill, Kyle McCallan, Barry Cooper, Warren McCully, Alistair Speer, Stephen McChesney, Geoffrey Stewart, who is currently home from Australia where is now living, Jonny Terrett, Jonny Irons and Brian Anderson.

Chairman Neil Cahill’s team also includes, former captain Mark Shields, Waqas Mohammed and Max Burton plus, from this year’s side, professional CP Klijnhans, Adam Kelso, Henry Wylie and Aadi Maini.

McCord’s XI features former professional Avadhoot Dandekar, Andrew Forbes, Andrew Magee, Matthew Palmer and youngsters Alfie Wylie and 15-year-old Rishik Yalamanchili, who is making his debut for Cliftonville Academy on Saturday.

Even the umpires, of course, have Cliftonville or Academy connections with Davy Hamilton and Brian Boyd due to stand although with McCully and Neill in the playing line-ups, there is plenty of cover there as well. And long-time Cliftonville scorer Helen McConaghy, now with Instonians, will be making sure every run is accounted for.

The star attraction on the day could be someone who is not allowed to play! Ireland ODI captain Paul Stirling, who started his career at Cliftonville, has been named as coach of the Chairman’s XI, unable to take part as the game takes place the day after Ireland’s game with Afghanistan, but keen to be at the game.

There are also apologies from the Patterson brothers, Ireland internationals Mark and Andy and even former professional Alfonso Thomas, now coaching Leicestershire, was all set to travel over from England until the county reached the semi-finals of the One-Day Cup, which take place on Sunday, so belatedly had to pull out.

“Grizzly Sports are sponsoring the game, all the players have individual sponsors and there will be £5 raffle tickets with prizes available. So, we are hoping to raise around £2,000 which will be great for the club,” explained McCord.

“There was never going to be a date which suits everyone but really surprised by the turnout. Everyone was keen to be involved. Hopefully is it a great day.”

The match will be starting at around 12.30pm.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Cliftonville Academy host Woodvale in the penultimate round of Premier League games – a game without jeopardy, as every match in the Bottom Four post-split has been with no relegation ahead of a 12-team top flight next season.

McCord remains one of the sceptics of an increased Premier League and doesn’t expect any change next season.

“No matter what half of the split you are in, after one or two games for most teams your season is virtually finished. Every game is an eight pointer. Every other year, we have played the bottom team first so last year Templepatrick, before that Cregagh. If you win that first game you are basically safe,” says McCord.

The only solution, in my opinion, is to play every team home and away. I really believe that would lead to more meaningful games. For example, with Instonians having no chance of winning the league and trying to get their Seconds promoted, Laurelvale could have more chance of beating Instonians and potentially you would get more unusual results.

“But it will be interesting to see how long the 12-team league lasts. Because I can see more teams not wanting to come up (like Carrickfergus last season).

McCord, though, believes the fast scoring is almost getting out of control and with two more teams in the Premier League, there could be some messy mismatches next season.

“It’s only a matter of time before some team goes for 500,” he says. Last Saturday we scored 355 in 41 overs (against Laurelvale) and two weeks ago we chased down Woodvale’s 335 with two overs to spare. I think that is actually a record run chase in the Premier League. I came in in the 21st over and we only needed four an over!”

When asked if that was because there was no pressure on either team and the match, effectively meant nothing, he recalled their opening game of the season at North Down when the home side hit 383-8 in 42 overs and Cliftonville Academy replied  with 290 in 36 overs, a match McCord remembers as he hit his career best score of 168. 

On the same day, Instonians hit 379 for eight and Muckamore 344 for seven.

“It’s just the way the game is going, with the white ball and the way batters approach the game. It’s not a game for bowlers anymore.”

On Saturday at the Castle Grounds it is the battle for eighth place in Premier League and while Woodvale may not have expected to be involved in such a scenario, McCord is actually delighted.

“At the start of the season I didn’t give us a chance of finishing eighth, because I firmly expected us to finish ninth. So it will be a good result for us if we win.”

But this weekend, the more enjoyable match for McCord will take place on Sunday.

Sunday’s Teams
Chairman’s XI – N Cahill, CP Klijnhans, A Kelso, H Wylie, M Burton, J Irons, W McCully, A Speer, Waqas Mohammed, S McChesney, G Stewart, A Maini, M Shields. Coach: P Stirling
Captain’s XI – M McCord, K McCallan, B Cooper, M Palmer, A Wylie, J Terrett, A Forbes, A Magee, B Anderson, A Neill, A Dandekar, R Yalamanchili.