Jim Ervin ‘living in the moment’ as Ballymena United prepare for Irish Cup final hurdle against Glentoran

The 35-year-old defender can boast a silverware collection stacked with multiple reminders of his highlights reel across the beautiful game.

Now his search for a fifth Irish Cup honour - but first in Ballymena United colours - could end on Friday night at Windsor Park against Glentoran.

The coronavirus pandemic impact on the Irish League season forced officials into a revamped schedule to wrap up the campaign with the three outstanding Irish Cup ties over a five-day timeline in Belfast that will culminate, in the aftermath of Monday’s thrilling last-four dates, with a final showpiece many did not expect to take place.

Despite the circumstances surrounding the high-stakes showdown, Ervin is determined to embrace the occasion and ensure his team-mates shut out the distractions and deliver a first Irish Cup prize to Ballymena since 1989.

“It’s not going to be the usual Irish Cup final experience, with weeks of build-up, getting measured for the suit and then the pre-match arrangements and walking out on the pitch to soak up the atmosphere,” said Ervin. “So this one is going to be a bit surreal due to the circumstances but it’s still a massive game.

“I’ll be saying the same things as normal to the younger players or those with less experience of cup finals.

“You never know when your next or last final is going to be so it’s about living in the moment.

“So, at the end of the semi-final there was probably a bit of relief too as it’s a mixture of everything.

“When you realise you’ve gone through to the final, it’s a mixture of everything...pure relief to be there and then feeling ecstatic.

“I was just delighted we managed to get through to the final.

“We’ve got this tag of being a good cup side and I thought in the Co Antrim Shield final (against Cliftonville) we were immense and should have seen it out after an amazing performance.

“So, to lose that final like we did was heart-breaking.

“And at 35 years of age you never know when you are going to another Irish Cup final.”

Ervin accepts the demands of this week’s extended but intense Irish Cup commitment could prove significant on Friday but, with both Ballymena and Glentoran forced to deal with the strain of 120-plus gruelling minutes and penalty shoot-out pressure, is hoping to ignore the pain game in a bid for final glory.

“I’d nothing left in the tank to run to Ross Glendinning (after the penalty shoot-out win),” said Ervin. “The circumstances were probably not good for the ticker by scoring an equaliser in the 94th, then extra-time and it going to penalty kicks - with me missing the first spot-kick.

“You ask any footballer and they will say you can do any amount of training but you get your fitness by playing games.

“You tend to see that at the start of any season, when it takes five or six games to get those fitness levels up to where they should be.

“So, coming back after such a long lay-off to play a semi-final and now a final straight after there will be tired bodies.

“But, hopefully, with the adrenaline of an Irish Cup final and one last push, a lot of players will be okay.

“David Jeffrey used his substitutions wisely on Monday and with so many involved in our equaliser that goes to show the importance of that area.

“Friday night will probably be exactly the same and the fact that you’ve now more substitutions and the additional extra-time opportunity, it all opens up those options.

“But we’ve played Glentoran a few times this year and should know what to expect, plus David and Bryan McLaughlin will be thoroughly prepared with in-depth knowledge they bring into each game.

“Speaking personally, it all clicked in for me on that first whistle.

“Players can each react in a different way but I try to drown everything else out anyway to blank it out and keep my focus.

“It became normal for me once the game started and I wasn’t thinking about anything else apart from what was happening there and then on the pitch.

“The only surreal moment was when the goals were scored and you don’t hear that normal crowd reaction.”

An ease on restrictions will provide 500 fortunate fans the honour of playing a part in the United Kingdom’s first competitive football match since lockdown in front of live spectators.

And Ervin is keen to have one special fan in the Windsor Park stands.

“I don’t know at this minute the arrangements for family tickets but one of the hardest aspects to Monday night was not having my nine-year-old son Brody with me due to the restrictions, it was a big miss personally,” said Ervin. “It was hard breaking the news to him and he was disappointed...although he still went to his own team’s training!

“His Mum had to shout on to the pitch we had won on penalties.

“That was a big sense of relief for me after Monday’s game and win in that hopefully he might get to the final as he goes home and away.

“The Irish Cup final is a day when usually you have your kids or nieces or nephews walking out with you on the pitch, so that’s going to be a massive disappointment.

“It’s a no-win situation for both clubs as how can anyone turn around and say one person deserves a ticket over another, it’s unfair and I don’t envy them having to distribute 250 tickets each.”

Ervin will walk out at Windsor Park for the second time in five days with an underdogs tag as Irish Cup motivation.

Having used Ballymena’s form frustration as inspiration for a semi-final success over Coleraine earlier in the week, the experienced captain is happy to hand Glentoran the role of favourites for Friday’s final.

“Being honest, for the semi-final I think everybody had us written off so we had that in the back of our minds going into Monday,” said Ervin. “No-one was giving us a chance, we knew how big of a task it was going to be but we had that belief in ourselves.

“We knew what we could do...we felt if we could stay in the tie we could give Coleraine a game and then win it.

“You look at resources and Glentoran’s rebuild since the takeover and great job Mick McDermott has done.

“He has built on the squad they had and got the fans’ backing, something some previous managers were not able to do.

“Glentoran go in as massive favourites but we will just prepare the way we did for the semi-final against Coleraine and use the experience we have in our squad.

“There is a lot of cup final experience in our group we can draw on and help guide everyone else.”

Ervin’s opportunity to add to his Irish Cup medal collection arrived as an unexpected bonus following a return from injury considered unlikely without the cornovirus-related fixture freeze. The United captain also highlights a boost to the squad overall.

“The league campaign wasn’t going according to plan and although there were lots of things going on, we never used injuries, suspensions or anything else as an excuse,” said Ervin. “It’s all part and parcel of football but the main thing for us was the loss of form, we couldn’t get that consistency and it was pretty frustrating.

“Because of that form, going into a semi-final pre-lockdown with the way Coleraine were playing, we were going to be under severe pressure.

“So lockdown came at a good time for us - we were able to get away, recharge the batteries and mentally get right.

“Then we came back in to get physically right for Monday night’s semi-final.

“We know they have quality all over the pitch so it’s up to us to be prepared mentally and physically for that challenge.

“Now we have one more massive game on Friday.”