Braidmen come out on top in high-scoring encounter

A bright start saw an early short corner saved by the Parkview keeper although Ballymena opened the scoring a short time later when Andrew Shields got the final touch to an inch perfect pass from Andrew Bell.

Ballymena doubled their lead, after a short passage of play, the culmination of a flowing move from Victor Orr.

Parkview were handed a lifeline though when two Ballymena players were shown green cards in quick succession. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the visitors really found themselves behind the eight ball when Andrew Crooks sustained a nasty blow to the chin which required him to visit the casualty department.

This change in their fortunes afforded Parkview a scrappy goal, from a short corner, as the half came to a close 2-1.

As the second half commenced Ballymena had shaken off the misfortune that befell them earlier and two excellent finishes from debutant Craig Davis afforded the visitors a three goal cushion.

By this stage of the game Parkview had all but lost their discipline and were shown green, yellow and red cards as a result.

This further served Ballymena’s purpose and two additional goals from Andy McKelvey and Mark Allison, in quick succession, rounded off excellent performances from both of these seasoned veterans and finally put the tie beyond all doubt.

As the game played out Ballymena took their foot off the gas though and allowed the hosts to snatch two back 6-3.

This was an important victory for Ballymena whose composure both on and off the ball was commendable. This coupled with an inspirational performance from Craig Davis ensured they emerged as worthy victors.

Squad: Eddie Hampton, Chris Hogg (c), Andrew Shields, Davy McDonald, Andrew Crooks, Clive Fulton, Andy McKelvey, Victor Orr, Tim Lowry, Craig Davis, Andrew Lorimer, Matt O’Neill, Andrew Bell, Mark Allison

LADIES

Limavady 2, Ballymena II 1: Ballymena were in confident mood as they travelled to Limavady for this Intermediate Cup quarter final, hot on the heels of their recent victory against Larne.

As play commenced though Ballymena were quickly on the back foot as Limavady started the stronger. Fluid passing and efficient running, both on and off the ball, was causing the Ballymena defence all sorts of problems. Having said this Ballymena’s resistance proved effective and this coupled with the efforts of keeper Joanne Logan kept the host’s forwards at bay.

In fact the visitors’ forwards rallied and managed to mount a credible attack at the other end of the pitch where they were unfortunate not to open the scoring.

A Limavady counter afforded them the opportunity to break the deadlock though when, following a mazy run from a resourceful forward, the ball was slammed across the goal mouth for a gentle tap in.

Amiee Logan pulled one back for the visitors with an absolute peach of a goal and for a time it seemed a though Ballymena were in the ascendency. The visitor’s optimism was short lived though as Limavady edged ahead with a well worked goal just before half time 2-1.

As play restarted Ballymena pressed and pressed although, try as they might, the equaliser eluded them.

Squad: Joanne Logan, Ashleigh Harbinson, Kirsty McMaster, Nicola Greer, Kathryn Kealey, Sarah Cundell, Lyndsey McClintock, Sharon Reid, Stephanie Storey, Lorna Murphy, Aimee Logan, Natalie McMullan, Rebecca McPeake and Laura Logan.