Irish Cup Semi-Finals: venues

The Nationwide Irish Cup Semi-Finals are on this weekend. The games are Portadown v Glentoran, and Coleraine v Omagh Town - and they're being played at neutral venues.

The Ports-Glens game is at Mourneview in Lurgan and the Coleraine-Omagh game is at Ballymena.

This is a system that they use for the FA cup semi-finals in England too, and I think it would be a good introduction to the FAI cup here. For example - the Cork-Derry semi final seemed to be weighted heavily in favour of the home side (even though Derry won). If that game had been played in Longford or Galway, it would have been fairer to both teams, especially at such a late stage in the competition.