Burns stokes Ballynure to a dream start

After accounting for Carniny, the ‘Nure lads picked up another three points at the expense of Desertmartin.

The Carniny match proved to be a seven-goal thriller at Mossley, where Ballynure recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3.

The visitors opened the scoring after 15 minutes when a free was deflected wide of Simon Hamilton in the home goal, and later two quick scores had Ballynure on the ropes. But in the 44th minute man-of-the-match central defender Paul McAllister reduced the deficit when he ran on to a ball through the middle to beat the advancing keeper.

Early in the second session it was game on when John Guy and Mark Leckey combined to set it up for David Trimble to cut the arrears to a single goal, while the final quarter belonged to the manager’s younger brother Ronnie. Burns Jnr rounded the keeper neatly to level the scores and in a storming finish he clinched the points when he cut through to net the dramatic winner.

There was no repeat of the fireworks at Desertmartin, where an added-time strike by Davy Thompson secured an odd-goal-in-three win.

Right from the start, Ballynure dictated the terms of play and were justly rewarded in the 20th minute when recent recruit from Crusaders Reserves, Jonny Robinson, played the ball over the top for McAllister to play in Burns, who netted from close range.

Ballynure lost some of their momentum after the interval and duly surrendered the lead on the hour, when Hamilton was beaten by a firm header from a set piece.

With almost the final kick of the ball Davy Thompson snatched the winner with a low shot from the edge of the box, after a Mark Moore corner had been partially cleared to Stuart Galbraith.

The man-of-the match honours were shared by Moore and McAllister.

The Ballynure panel for both matches comprised: Hamilton McDowell, Robinson, McAllister, McNair, Guy, Leckey, Crooks, Curlett, Trimble, Burns, Lyness, Galbraith, Thompson, Hegarty.