COLERAINE end the month on the road as the Bannsiders are the visitors to Portadown tomorrow evening (KO 7.45pm)…

BOYLE SPORTS PREMIERSHIP

Overview:

Coleraine pocketed all three points from their last outing at Carrick Rangers as goals from Joel Cooper and Ben Doherty sealed a 2-0 victory at Taylors Avenue. The result moved the Bannsiders top of the standings at this early stage. However, Ruaidhri Higgins has confirmed that the success came at a cost as Joel Cooper had to be withdrawn late into the second half through injury.

Portadown were beaten last time out at Crusaders after they were edged out 3-2 at Seaview. David Jeffrey’s men are currently without a Premiership point after their three games to date. The Ports have been busy in the transfer window by adding Rhys Breen, Mickey Hewitt, Matty Carson, Sean O’Mahoney, Conor Falls, Liam Jessop, Dominic Dos Santos Martins, Oisin Gamble, Jamie Barry, Finn Flanagan and Ben Kennedy to their squad.

Previous Meetings:

Coleraine and Portadown met each other on three different occasions last season.

  • September 13, 2025 (BSP) – Portadown 1 (Teelan ’89 mins); Coleraine 4 (Patching ’45 mins & ’85 mins, Shevlin ’56 mins, Cooper ’66 mins)
  • October 25, 2025 (BSP) – Portadown 0 Coleraine 2 (Shevlin ’62 mins & Cooper ’74 mins)
  • February 10, 2026 (BSP) – Coleraine 2 (Cooper ’74 mins & Akintunde ’90+4 mins); Portadown 1 (Ukek ’21 mins)

Manager’s Thoughts:

“We know that going to Shamrock Park on a Friday night is going to be a difficult task and we’ll need to be on it to win the game because it’s only a matter of time before they start picking up points,” Higgins said.

“I have really good respect for Davy (Jeffrey). He’s a good man, a really good man.

“He’s a legend in Irish league football, but hopefully come 10pm on Friday night, we’ve added three points to our tally, because that’s what we’re going there for.

“We want to go there and win the game but we’ll obviously show the opposition the respect they deserve as well.”

Officials:

The match referee will be Niall Devlin.

The assistant referees are Adam Jeffrey and Matthew English.

Tom Symington has been selected as the fourth official.

Admission:

Coleraine supporters require tickets for the fixture which can be purchased HERE.

The match will be streamed live on NIFL TV HERE.

We would urge supporters to arrive at the ground in good time and respect residents and businesses in terms of parking your vehicle.

As ever, those unable to watch the fixture can follow the latest developments via the club’s official X account (@ColeraineFC).