Double delight, condensed campaigns and viral videos - the NI men's footballing year that was

Former Northern Ireland team-mates David Healy and Steven Davis have played leading roles in the story of 2021

Remember when a goalkeeper was shown a yellow card and then a red card during the same penalty shoot-out?

Or the other keeper who charged at his own full-back and pinned him to the floor in an incident viewed by millions across the globe on social media?

There was also, of course, plenty of high-quality, exciting football played throughout a year which saw the defending champions add the cup to their successful title defence. And that was just the Irish League.

On the international stage, Northern Ireland started and completed an ultimately unsuccessful qualifying campaign in a calendar year - with no shortage of off-field talking points along the way.

Here, BBC Sport NI takes a walk through some of the highlights of the men's footballing year that was in Northern Ireland.

Covid-curtailed start as Linfield surge to top

The Irish League's start to 2021 was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the postponement of the ever-popular 2020 Boxing Day fixtures being followed by a two-week circuit-breaker of no matches in the middle of January.

It was hard to get away from Covid-related news during January, in fact, with the Northern Ireland Football League announcing that a Covid testing programme would be introduced for top-flight clubs for the first time.

The Irish League transfer market once again proved to be a lively one, with Cliftonville's Conor McMenamin choosing Glentoran over Larne at the 11th hour in a deal that saw Paul O'Neill go the other way, while Joel Cooper returned to Linfield on loan.

On the pitch, Larne went into 2021 as Premiership leaders but were soon overtaken by holders Linfield, who hit the front in January and built their title defence from there.

Back-to-back Big Two defeats by Glentoran in a week at the end of February and start of March were a major blip, but led to a public dressing down from manager David Healy that had the desired effect as the Blues responded by going on an impressive winning run.

Cup returns to agenda as Davis sets caps record

Steven Davis says he is yet to decide whether to continue playing international football

With the fixture schedule mounting, and the 2020-21 League Cup having already been scrapped, there was uncertainty about what would happen with the season's Irish Cup.

Until, that was, the Irish FA announced in late February that the competition would be started and finished in May - which duly prompted a number of Championship clubs to pull out having not been able to play competitively since the Covid-19 outbreak.

The end of March saw the start of the qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, with Northern Ireland opening with a 2-0 defeat away to Euro 2020 winners-elect Italy in a match in which they were outplayed during the first half before coming out of their shell and causing Roberto Mancini's side problems after the break.

A 2-1 friendly defeat against the USA was notable only for it continuing Baraclough's search for a first win in 90 minutes, but it was back at Windsor three days later that perhaps the lowest point of the campaign arrived - a goalless draw with a weak Bulgaria in which Northern Ireland missed a host of chances.

The games had an added significance, however, as Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis equalled and then broke Peter Shilton's British international caps record by making his 125th and 126th appearances.

Domestically, Shayne Lavery-inspired Linfield began moving up the gears at the top, with a home win over challengers Coleraine in mid-April proving particularly significant as they closed in on a third successive title.

Shootout madness and Linfield celebrations

Irish Cup semi-final day produced high drama at Mourneview Park. Linfield's win over Ballymena United in the second last-four tie of the day was routine, but Larne's penalty shootout victory over Crusaders earlier in the afternoon will be remembered for years to come.

Crues keeper Jonny Tuffey received a warning from referee Shane Andrews for leaving his line early when saving from Andrew Mitchell. When he moved off his line again to save a later penalty from Josh Robinson, he received a yellow and did the same for the re-take, dramatically leading to a red card which left defender BJ Burns to don the gloves as Larne won the shootout.

Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter was incandescent with rage and his mood was no better a few weeks later when his team lost their European play-off semi-final to Cliftonville on penalties when a Crusaders spot-kick that was clearly a goal was adjudged not to have crossed the line.

His mood was not made lighter by city rivals Linfield picking up another League and Irish Cup double. The cup was secured first, with 500 vocal supporters from each club allowed to attend Mourneview as the Blues produced a powerful performance to defeat Larne 2-1 in the showpiece.

A few days later, Linfield looked slightly more nervy at the Coleraine Showgrounds but still got the point they needed against the Bannsiders to ensure the Gibson Cup stayed in the Windsor Park trophy cabinet for the third season in a row, after being presented to the squad at Solitude that Saturday.

Cliftonville come out flying as NI get campaign boost

Jonny Addis has played a leading role in Cliftonville's strong start to the season

The summer transfer market did not disappoint, with Glentoran reportedly breaking the Irish League transfer record to sign Shay McCartan from Ballymena United, while the summer saw champions Linfield become a full-time operation and Larne make an impressive debut in European competition.

When the Irish Premiership returned it was Cliftonville, boosted by a number of clever summer signings, who set the early pace with a fantastic start to the season. Paddy McLaughlin's men went on a long unbeaten run from the start and have led for long spells.

On the international stage, Northern Ireland built on their summer friendly win over Malta - Baraclough's first during 90 minutes - by overcoming the loss of a number of key players to win 4-1 away to Lithuania as World Cup qualification resumed.

It gave their outside chances of reaching the finals a shot in the arm and meant Windsor Park was bouncing - grumbles over ticket prices aside - when 16,000 supporters were able to return for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak for the visit of Switzerland, but NI could not break them down and drew 0-0.

More goalkeeper controversy while NI fall short

October saw one of the most controversial incidents the Irish League has seen - and there have been a few - when, during a home draw with Coleraine, Glentoran goalkeeper Aaron McCarey charged at team-mate Bobby Burns and lashed out at him after conceding a goal in what Paul Leeman described as a moment of madness.

Despite manager Mick McDermott trying to play it down, the incident was viewed over two million times on social media, with McCarey receiving a five-match suspension from the Irish FA for his actions.

The Glens' results have improved since then, with the east Belfast men having recently gone on a long unbeaten run that just this week saw them join Linfield in going a point in front of Cliftonville at the top, with the Blues in the lead on goal difference ahead of the Big Two clash on Monday.

The Reds are currently third but, along with holders Coleraine, have a League Cup final to look forward to in March.

Last month, meanwhile, saw the completion of Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign with a double-header dominated by questions around Baraclough's then unsigned new contract and captain Steven Davis' international future - which he assured he has not yet made a decision on.

With qualification hopes already gone, Davis and his team-mates beat Lithuania 1-0 at Windsor before returning there to earn an impressive 0-0 draw with Italy - a result which secured third place for NI and condemned Mancini's Italians to a World Cup play-off.

It looked as if Baraclough's contract saga could continue into the New Year before it was finally signed earlier this month, a day before his side were drawn against Greece, Kosovo and Cyprus or Estonia in the 2022 Nations League.