Wednesday evening St Brigids Reserves travelled to All Saints Ballymena keen to keep their good form going. Ballymena certainly had a different script in mind. Although St Brigids added another two league points it was a victory by the narrowest of margins, a single point. The first half was a very tight encounter with both teams not willing to give any ground. David Brennan opened the scoreline with a well taken point, shortly followed by Peter Lundy with a point. Ballymena hit back with a point from a free, but again Peter Lundy shot over the bar after a fine run. Conor Mackle, who had been fighting hard for every ball slotted over a free to leave the score 4-1 to the visitors. However with a lapse in concentration by the entire defence Ballymena, just before the end of the first period, found the back of the net. So it was all square at the interval in a very low scoring game.
Unlike the previous game against Portglenone, when there was just the single substitute, on this occasion there were 8 to select from. At half-time Chris Mc Cann and Ryan Mackle replaced Joe Devenny and Patrick Cagney (both of who had tried hard) in the full forward line-up. Damien Chesser came on at left-half back for Cathal Conway. The changes seemed to work as Conor Mackle, Peter Lundy, David Brennan and Chris Mc Cann (2 points), well supported by Ryan Mackle stretched out a five point gap. Ballymena dug deep and weren’t going to just lie down. They found the back of the net after St Brigids failed to clear out from defence, a rather soft goal. Paul Finnegan, returing to play after three years away, came at corner back for Richrad Cranley, who was playing his first game after being out for a number of weeks due to injury. A point for Ballymena reduced the margin to a single point. Chris Mc Cann and David Brennan slotted over a point each to leave the visitors three up with 8 minutes left. Once again the Ballymena mid-field paring found energy to burst through and create chances which saw them score two points. Finally the referee’s whistle went and it was a very relieved management and team. Final score Ballymena 2-4 St Brigids 0-11.
