Friday Night Big Two Clash restricted to 6,000.

The Oval’s days of comfortably accommodating crowds of even 10,000 are long gone.There will be no more than 6,054 allowed into the Oval next Friday for the stadium’s biggest game in years, the top of the table derby clash with Linfield.

That’s the number on the club’s General Safety Certificate issued by Belfast City Council under the terms of The safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.

With a perfect opportunity to showcase the upsurge in the local game with a packed stadium through LIVE BBC coverage, it comes as a blow, although not an unexpected one.

Long gone are the days it seems, when 10,000 or 12,000 would comfortably (I STRESS ‘COMFORTABLY’) watch an Irish Cup final at…