EXTRA-TIME with Ciaran Donaghy

Our return to Taylor’s Avenue saw us put in one of our best performances of the season and run out comfortable 3-0 winners against Knockbreda. That result meant the Institute game simply became a must-win to keep our promotion dream alive.

It was encouraging to see such a big turnout for the game and leading with just over 10 minutes to go things were looking good. Sadly, Institute equalised with a well-taken goal and as a draw wasn’t good enough for us we had to chase the game.

We gave it a go, and but for two terrific saves from their goalkeeper near the end things may have turned out a lot differently. With us pushing forward in search of the winner, they scored again in injury-time and that sealed our fate and ended our chances of promotion for another year.

I think it’s generally agreed that Institute have been the best team in Championship 1 this season and it was no surprise to see them lift the title on Saturday. Our congratulations go to them and we wish them all the best in the Premiership next season.

The defeat was hard to take and I think the hangover from that spilled over into our final game of the season against Donegal Celtic. We never really got going and didn’t deserve to take anything from the game, but it’s still a disappointing note to end the season on.

Because of other results on the final day we ended up slipping down to fifth in the table on goal difference. We finished with the joint best defensive record in the league but conceded some crucial late goals and just didn’t score enough over the course of the season.

Looking back I think dropping points against the likes of Loughgall, Larne and last-minute goals conceded at Distillery and Dergview cost us dearly. Playing away from home for so long certainly didn’t help either!

The current squad is one of the strongest in Championship 1 and it’s easy to forget that a lot of the players only came in at the start of the season, whilst the Manager hasn’t even been in the job a year. It can take time for teams to gel and for managers to get together a squad that is their own.

I’m sure Gary (Haveron) is already looking to strengthen for next year and putting together a team that can bring success back to the club in the near future.

Ciaran Donaghy