By Neil Watson
BANGOR manager Lee Feeney is excited by the challenge that awaits his side as they get their Irish Premiership season underway this Saturday.
Having had to wait a week longer to kick off their season, due to last week’s postponed fixture against Larne, Bangor now set their focus on Cliftonville’s trip to Clandeboye Park.
The Seasiders maintained their Premiership status after defying the odds last season, and many have Bangor as favourites for the drop this time round.
However, Feeney is determined that his men are well prepared for another campaign after most of his squad tasted top-flight football for the first time last season.
“We’re really looking forward to getting this season started,” he said.
“We have worked really, really hard throughout pre-season and now we are ready for Saturday.
“Pre-season had quite a lot of games in it and I was happy with how we managed it. For the
most part, we managed to avoid any injuries and that was a big bonus.
“The first game of the season is always exciting, and it’s nice that it is at home. With no game last weekend, it has been a long week because we want to get going after a long and tough pre-season.”
Ironically, the Seasiders started last season at home to Cliftonville, and it proved to be a memorable day in front of a packed Clandeboye Park, with Kyle Owens, Ben Arthurs and Mick Morgan all on target as they made an instant impact back in the top flight.
That set the tone for a blistering start to the campaign for Bangor, but Feeney is cautious that this season may present different challenges for his squad.
“We go into the season knowing it will likely be tougher than last season,” warned Feeney.
“Teams will pay us more respect and maybe pay a bit more attention to us than they did last season, but we have a bit more belief and belonging about us now.
“We competed in every game last season and we took a point off every team in the league apart from Linfield.”
Feeney continued: “We can carry that confidence into the new campaign. Last season, most of the squad hadn’t played in the Premiership before and now those players have 20 or 30 games under their belt.
“In that regard, we have a more mature squad that will know how to handle some of the challenges.
“One of those challenges will be on Saturday, against a really strong Cliftonville side. They have had a good start to the season, they have a lot of new faces in and they will cause us problems.
“We will have to be on our game and put in a good performance if we are to get anything out of Saturday.”
With the transfer window open until the start of September, there is still time for Feeney to continue shaping his squad.
Lucas McRoberts, Steven McCullough and Jeremi Rodriguez have joined the
Seasiders over the summer, and the Bangor boss is still on the lookout to further strengthen his squad.
While 31 year-old McCullough is an experienced Irish League player, with more than 500 top-flight appearances, both McRoberts and Rodriguez are new to the league, and Feeney knows they will need time and patience to adapt.
“We lost a bit of experience from the squad in the likes of Michael Halliday and Robbie Garrett, but we’ve added players in key areas that we needed to strengthen.
“We’ve brought in players from outside of the Irish League and I’m excited to see how they adapt, but they will need time to settle.
“Jeremi Rodriguez has come from a completely different environment, from playing in Spain, so it might take him a bit longer to get settled here, but he has all the attributes to do really, really well for us.
“He is such an intelligent footballer, and he has a good group around him to help.”
Bangor will get their 2026/27 season underway at home to Cliftonville at 3pm on Saturday.
