STEEL & SONS CUP QUARTER-FINAL
Comber Rec 3 Ballymoney United 4
Dennis S Nash reports from Park Way
MATTHEW Knight’s goal two minutes from time secured a place in the semi-finals of the Steel and Sons Cup for Ballymoney United at the expense of holders Comber Rec, in a dramatic last-eight encounter at Park Way.
Last year’s competition winners had overturned a 3-1 deficit at half-time and the tie was poised to be heading for a period of extra-time, only for the north-west visitors to deliver the killer blow late on.
Afternoon sunshine flooded the Park Way venue, with the sizeable crowd gathered around as the opening exchanges unravelled.
Comber’s Elliott Wilson sent an early attempt just wide of John Connolly’s left-hand upright, before home custodian Corey Pollock was called into action as he gathered a Josh Tennant corner kick.
A group of youthful home supporters, armed with a drum, were in full voice two minutes later as the Rec grabbed an early lead via Elliott Wilson. Immediately after the restart Tennant was again active up front for Ballymoney, but the threat was dealt with by the home team.
The visitors’ contribution over the opening quarter-hour had been largely of a defensive nature but on 22 minutes, after good play from Luke McConnell, Reece Watton pulled the scoreline back to level pegging at 1-1.
Ballymoney had begun to find their groove and the team from north Antrim took control towards the end of the half as two goals – from Luke McConnell and Matthew Knight – in the five minutes before the interval gave Comber a mountain to climb.
The second half was only 14 minutes old when the home side found a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears, but Matt Tumilson, who hit a hat-trick in the previous week’s win over Moyola Park in the Intermediate Cup, saw his penalty effort strike the woodwork.
Ten minutes later and, after ’keeper Connolly had conceded another penalty with a lunge on Elliott Wilson, Brandon Nelson cut the arrears to 3-2.
Referee Ben Shepherd signalled for a third penalty just minutes later and Nelson repeated the trick to restore parity.
The incident-littered second half found one further episode to record when Knight, who some home supporters felt was fortunate to avoid red in the 85th minute, sealed Ballymoney’s spot in the last-four with just a couple of minutes left to play.
Half-time substitute Simon Hanna was dismissed for a second bookable offence late on, meaning he will miss Comber’s clash with Drumaness Mills this weekend.
THE MATCH CARD
Comber Rec: Corey Pollock, Stuart Moore, Lex Walker, Reece Whittle, Dylan Thompson, Brandon Nelson, Harry Grierson, George O’Kane, Matt Tumilson (C), Matt Gibson, Elliott Wilson.
Substitutes: Dylan Wilson, Kris Gaw, Brett Conville, Simon Hanna, Dylan Donaldson.
Officials: M Picking, M Brady, I McKibben, G McKeown, G McKibben.
Ballymoney United: John Connolly, Adam Patterson, Josh Douglas, Chandler Douglas, Josh Tennant, Matthew Knight, Luke McConnell, Reece Watton, Paul Keane (C), Leon Patton.
Substitutes: Adam McCombe, Nicky Kerr, Abel Ferreira, Daniel Drain, Rafferty McKay.
Officials: L McClelland, J Gilchrist, J McCook, K Crawford, K McVey.
THE TEAMS
Comber Rec FC
First known as Comber Youth Club after formation in 1950, the club applied to join the Churches League in 1953 and were renamed 1st Comber Presbyterian.
They joined the Northern Amateur Football League in the mid-1950s, undergoing another name change to become Comber Rec, and in the 1957-1958 season won their first of three Clarence Cups.
In November 2012 Comber Rec Ladies was formed by Heather McCracken and Winston Kerr.
Ballymoney United FC
Ballymoney United Football Club play in the Ballymena and Provincial Football League.
The club was founded in 1944 and currently play home matches at the Riada Stadium, sharing it with Glebe Rangers.
Ballymoney’s colours are blue and white. The current managers are Lee McClelland and Stewart McMullan and the club chairman is Noel Lamont.
In regard to Intermediate honours, the club won the B Division KO Cup in 1998-1999 and the Intermediate League three times, in seasons 1980–1981, 1982–1983 and 2015–2016.
Ballymoney United produce a match programme for all home games.
THE COMPETITION
The Steel and Sons Cup is an intermediate football competition organised by the County Antrim & District Football Association.
The trophy was donated to the County Antrim FA in 1895 by Mr David Steel. Steel was principal of Steel and Sons Ltd, a wholesale jewellers and silversmiths with premises on Royal Avenue, Belfast.
The final has traditionally been played on Christmas Day.
The most successful club in the competition are Glentoran seconds with 13 titles.
LONG JOURNEY
For the third successive weekend my journey to feature match suffered lengthy alterations and, although extra caution when setting out got me to Park Way well before kick-off, it certainly is not recommended to travel to Comber from Newtownards via Dundonald.
OTHER QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Derriaghy CC 2 Belfast Celtic 1
Finaghy 0 Willowbank 2
Killyleagh YC 3 Linfield Swifts 0
AT PARK WAY
My thanks to Ian Davis for having the team sheet and all match information prepared for me.
MATCH SPONSOR
Saturday’s match was sponsored by Paul Foster Window Cleaning.
THE REFEREE
Ben Shepherd controlled the play very well and dealt with the incident-packed game with composure, calmness and total impartiality.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Neal Dorman was on photography duties for the Chronicle.
COMBER REC NEWS
Goalkeeper Corey Pollock, seen here with supporter Joe Keys, was named as Saturday’s man of the match.
This coming Saturday will see Comber at home to Drumaness Mills in the NAFL Premier Division (2pm). The seconds are away to Crumlin Star II in the Walter Moore Cup (1.30pm) and the third and fourth teams are both in DAWFL action, against Castle Juniors and Ballynafeigh Breda Star II respectively.
