SLIDESHOW: Milk Cup magic in Ballymena borough

The Ballymena borough once again played a starring role as another hugely successful Dale Farm Milk Cup reached it climax last week.
Local fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CSLocal fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CS
Local fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CS

Ballymena Showgrounds, Broughshane and Clough are now every bit as integral a part of the competition as the north coast holiday venues which have become synonymous with the event for more than there decades.

The welcome that visiting teams and officials would receive in Ballymena was never in question but they were astounded by the quality of the facilities they encountered, with pitches being referred to as being like bowling greens.

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Ballymena Showgrounds, with its multiple changing rooms and warm-up areas, once again provided a fitting venue for the competitions’ conclusion on Friday night.

Local fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CSLocal fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CS
Local fans Dan Scott and Chris Cummings with one of the Rangers players after his team's win over Liverpool. INBT 32-175CS

As so often in the past, the three finals matches perhaps did meet the same high levels of quality as earlier in the week but that is understandable - a gruelling schedule of five matches in five days, on top of training and travelling, catches up with even the youngest, fittest bodies.

The finals night line-up itself would have delighted tournament officials, with appearances from local teams County Antrim and Northern Ireland, along with perennial crowd favourites Manchester United, ensuring that turnstiles clicked at a steady rate.

While all the logistics ran with their usual military-like precision thanks to the hard-working team behind the scenes, even the one factor which the Milk Cup committee couldn’t control during the week - the weather - couldn’t spoil proceedings.

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Games were often interrupted with spectators running for cover as the heavens opened but it didn’t have any detrimental effect, with attendances reaching record numbers.

Nowhere was that more evident than for the Tuesday night meeting of Rangers and Liverpool at the Showgrounds which produce a record attendance for a Junior fixture.

But it didn’t require ‘big’ names to draw people out of their armchairs and along to venues.

Tournament chairman Victor Leonard reported traffic congestion for matches as Clough as the village, in its second year of hosting matches, showed once again that it has fully embraced the tournament.

No wonder Victor was able to smile: “It’s a nice problem to have.”