Ballymacash Rangers fighting spirit fails to collect three points against Armagh City

The Lisburn men came into the fixture sitting top of the Northern Ireland Football League’s Premier Intermediate League, while their opponents Armagh City started the day in ninth place.

It was the second game in five days for Ballymacash, whose 4-2 win over Dollingstown last Tuesday saw them trail at half time before coming back in the second half to take all three points – which was the fourth game in five that they have failed to be ahead at half time.

It was therefore unsurprising but equally disappointing ,that when referee Richard White blew the half time whistle on Saturday, the ‘Cash were two goals down to Armagh. Having won 3-0 in Armagh back in December, some could have been forgiven for thinking this would be a routine victory for Ballymacash, but the visitors arrived at The Bluebell in buoyant form.

A win last week against Portstewart in the Intermediate Cup, coupled with the return of goalscoring-ace Conor Mullen from Annagh United, had them feeling confident and that showed in their display.

It was the returning Conor Mullen, who hit 15 goals in blue and black last season for Armagh, who opened the scoring. A flowing move saw the ball break wide, and the eventual cross was swept home by Mullen.

It was a blow to Ballymacash who had started the game reasonably well, and who felt hard done by twice, when their penalty claims were waved away by the referee. A bigger blow was to follow however as just a few minutes before the half-time interval, James McCormick put Armagh two nil up thanks to a neat finish after some tidy build up play.

What was said by Forsythe in the Ballymacash dressing room at half-time clearly had some form of impact. Just four minutes into the second half, Jack Smith crossed from wide to Zach Barr whose flick was finished off at the back post by Michael Moore – game on.

This goal would have been expected to give the home side sufficient momentum, but the visitors were defending well. Just after the hour, a flurry of changes was made by Forsythe which saw Ryan Newberry, Guillaume Keke, Mark Drysdale and Dylan Sinnerton introduced.

With the clock ticking down, and the game now deep into stoppage time, one of Forsythe’s substitutions would pay off. A long punt up field by ‘keeper Bam Neeson broke the way of Keke, who ran on to the ball and finished brilliant from 18-yards to send the home support wild – a goal that not many seen coming at the time with Armagh running the clock down well, but a goal that was very welcome.

It proved to be an important point for the ‘Cash, with news filtering through that other sides near the top had lost. What was on paper a disappointing draw had now turned into a positive point gained.

Ballymacash Rangers return to action on Saturday (February 4) with a league fixture against PSNI FC at The Bluebell, kicking off at 2pm.