NIFL eyeing full campaign as schedule is confirmed

THE Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) have reiterated their desire to complete a 38game season by releasing the remainder of the schedule for the Danske Bank Premiership.

The league’s governing body have confirmed that they plan to go ahead with all 38 rounds of the season, including the usual split format, with the season due to finish on Saturday, May 29, Covid-19 permitting.

The pre-split fixtures are still due to finish on Saturday, April 24 prior to the start of the Irish Cup, with the post-split games provisionally scheduled to start the following weekend on Saturday, May 1.

NIFL have also confirmed that the European play-offs will still take place this season — again, Covid permitting — with the two semi-finals planned for Tuesday, June 1 and Friday, June 4, with the final on Monday, June 7.

There will be matches on every Tuesday and Saturday until the split, while three of the four Fridays in April will have live action as well after the confirmation of the TV schedule too.

Sky Sports will broadcast what could be a title-deciding game at Windsor Park on Wednesday, April 7 when Coleraine travel to face Linfield with only seven points currently separating the two sides.

Meanwhile, BBC Northern Ireland will cover eight more matches, starting with Ballymena United against Crusaders on Friday, April 2 and concluding with the heavyweight battle between Glenavon and title-chasing Linfield on the final day of the pre-split games.