Maes Tegid welcomes NIFL Premiership side Cliftonville in our second game of pre-season. The visitors who also enter the Europa Conference League first qualifying round also head to Park Hall on Sunday to face TNS as part of a double header in North Wales.
The Match Bala Town vs Cliftonville Pre-season friendly Maes Tegid, LL23 7UY Saturday, June 25th, 3:00 pm kick-off.
Summer Signings
There will be two new Lakesiders having their first feel of Maes Tegid this Saturday. Both Ross White and James Davies completed their moves ahead of pre-season and have already made one non-competitive appearance for the club in our friendly fixture against TNS this past Tuesday.
Davies scored on his debut in midweek which turned out to be our singular goal against The Saints. The forward did well on that occasion to intercept the ball before composedly placing it past Connor Roberts. He joins having previously played for Newtown, Cefn Druids, Llanfairpwll and Airbus.
Another addition made to the squad is a fellow Welshman, Ross White. The 26-year-old joins from A.F.C Telford having spent five years at The New Bucks Head Stadium. He made over 150 appearances across the border and is a versatile defender who can play anywhere across the back four.
As well as the new signings, there is likely to be multiple trialists on the show hoping to earn a contract ahead of our return to competitive action.
Insight into our opponents
Historically known as Ireland's oldest club having been founded in 1879, the team are based in the city of Belfast and play their football at the Solitude Stadium.
The Reds finished runners-up in the NIFL Premiership last season, only a point behind the champions Linfield. Having qualified for the Europa Conference League, they were placed in our qualifying group for the draw yet were since drawn against Slovakian side DAC.
Paddy McLaughlin is the manager of the club and he recently guided them to victory in the League Cup final against Coleraine. Cliftonville obtains great European pedigree having played several years in UEFA's competition playing against the likes of Celtic, VfB Stuttgart and Nantes.
Danger Man Ronan Hale - A familiar face will be at Maes Tegid on Saturday under the name of Ronan Hale. The striker signed for Cliftonville this summer from our 2021 European opponents Larne. Last year, he scored a stunning strike in our second-leg tie against Larne which put an end to our hopes of progressing. The 23-year-old is also responsible for single-handedly securing his former side's place in Europe. He came off the bench to turn around a 2-0 deficit in Larne's Europa Conference League play-off final match against Glentoran with four goals with the fourth being one from his own half (75 yards out) to kill the tie.
Having now joined Cliftonville he will play alongside his brother, Rory Hale at the Solitude Stadium. Hale joins having scored 27 goals in 75 appearances for Larne while playing an important part in their success of reaching the third qualifying round of last year's Europa Conference League.
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