Cork’s Marcus Harness promoted to Premier League with Ipswich Town 

A fairy-tale season for Ipswich Town came to an end on Saturday with the Tractor Boys winning promotion to the Premier League, and amongst those celebrating was Marcus Harness, whose mother comes from Crosshaven in Cork.

The forward has played his football at Portman Road since 2022 and he played a key role in the club achieving back-to-back promotions.

Harness made 34 appearances for Ipswich this season and he scored four goals while tallying two assists.

This helped the club pull clear of Leeds United and secure second place in the EFL Championship.

The last team to do this was Southampton in 2012 as they went from League One to the Premier League in just two years.

This is a huge moment unto itself for Ipswich as they were relegated from the Championship in 2019 and that ended a 63-year spell in the top two tiers of English football.

Harness has been at the heart of the comeback since he moved to Portman Road from Portsmouth in 2022.

Burton Albion were the club that introduced the winger to senior professional football as he came through their academy before embarking on a series of loan spells in the lower leagues of England.

Harness’ destinations included Ilkeston, Aldershot Town, and Portvale. 

He returned to Burton Albion and made over 50 appearances during a memorable run that saw the club go between the EFL Championship and League Two.

The winger went from there to a Portsmouth side desperate to get out of League One. Harness was also in the side that reached the final of the EFL Trophy in 2020 and lost to Salford City on penalties at Old Trafford.

He moved to Portman Road two years ago and immediately hit the ground running under Kieran McKenna, a former Northern Ireland U21 international who is managing at senior level for the first time.

Harness could not have asked for a better year in Ipswich as the club collected 98 points and achieved promotion by finishing second to Plymouth Argyle.

The winger also featured for the team in a memorable run to the FA Cup fourth round during the 2022-23 season, and that journey ended with a defeat to runaway Championship leaders Burnley at Turf Moor.

Ipswich’s love of the domestic cups in England continued with the team reaching of the fourth round of the EFL Cup this year. 

They enjoyed memorable victories over Bristol Rovers and Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers before losing to Fulham at Portman Road.

The club’s priority all year was staying in the top half of the Championship and Ipswich manage to beat Leeds, Southampton, Norwich City to an automatic promotion spot at the end of the season.