Boys Brigade Inter Battalion Football

East Antrim Junior Side Make Semi Finals

After the drama and tension of the intermediate sides progression to the semi finals last weekend, East Antrim coaches Donald Blair and Neil McAllister were hoping for a slightly easier route this weekend in the junior competition but unfortunately it was not to be.  A morning loss to Belfast Battalion meant nothing short of a victory was required in the afternoon, against Lurgan Battalion, to make the semi finals.  Once again, the pressure was on!

All matches in this group were played at Belvoir Park Playing Fields, in East Belfast.  The previous night, Belfast had beaten Lurgan 5-0 and they entered the morning match against East Antrim in high spirits.  East Antrim were also in a positive frame of mind, having beaten Antrim Battalion in a friendly recently and entered the match with a full strength squad.  Ainsley Gray was captaining the team for the first time, showing his commitment to the Boys Brigade (Ainsley is a member of the Greenisland Company) in doing so as he had a number of other teams he could have represented on the day. Ainsley had played for the intermediate side last weekend and was one of that sides best players, his form for this junior team on the day was equally excellent.

The first half against Belfast was a tight affair, with neither side creating any clear cut opportunities.  One piece of individual brilliance from Alistair Bell, using his electric pace and lethal shooting, gave East Antrim a 1-0 half time lead.  The second half started in much the same vein as the first but a 6 minute aberration by the East Antrim defence, and admittedly some good play by the Belfast side, put East Antrim 3-1 down and left with a mountain to climb.  A world class save by Peter Griffith, the East Antrim goalie, prevented the damage from getting worse.  Conceding 3 goals in such quick succession was a little unfair on the East Antrim defence, who apart from that short time were excellent.  Jonathan Bingham marshalled his back four well, ably assisted by Allan Clarke at centre back and Robert Gould and Andrew McCurry at full backs.  Andrew was especially unlucky with his own goal, caught out by the quality of the Belfast cross. 

It was certainly a mountain to climb but East Antrim did not give up.  Striker Lee Millar was taken off and replaced by David Swann and this change proved inspirational.  Swanie immediately put himself about, using his considerable stature to good effect.  His hard work paid off with a well taken goal, slipping the ball through the Belfast keepers legs.  East Antrim suddenly had their tails up and the best goal of the day soon arrived to pull the two sides level.  Jonathan Bingham brought the ball out of defence and skipped past one despairing challenge.  He then went past another, then another before noticing the keeper off his line.  Jonathan lined himself up and skilfully sent the ball over the head of the keeper and into the net.  A truly magnificent piece of skill from one of East Antrim’s real stars.  This sparked mass hysteria from the travelling support but the joy was short lived.  Another moment of madness in the East Antrim defence, where a clear opportunity was missed to clear the ball, led to the winning Belfast goal with the last kick of the game.  A draw would have been a fair result in what was a fantastic advertisement for Boys Brigade football.  Unfortunately, as the disconsolate East Antrim faces showed, that was not the result they got.  The pressure was on for the afternoon.

After David Swanns heroics in the morning, he got the nod up front for the afternoon match against Lurgan.  The other change was Ross Megarry coming in for Karl Love.  This meant some changes in midfield, with Andrew ‘Slick’ Benson moving from right wing to left and Ross taking over on the right.  Ainsley Gray and the impressive Shaun Richards remained in centre midfield. 

East Antrim started off the stronger against a very big and physical Lurgan side but never really threatened early on.  Some slightly dodgy long shooting by Ainsley Gray was the closest East Antrim came in the early exchanges.  The first real action came on 15 minutes when Lurgan had a player sent off for foul language.  The referee was originally going to book the player but persistent foul language led to a fully deserved sending off.  There is no place for that type of behaviour in Boys Brigade football, or any football for that matter, and it was good to see a referee taking action against it.

East Antrim stepped up a gear after this and got a goal through Ali Bell.  Alistair was a constant threat to both teams on the day and, although small in size, Alistair will cause many more teams endless amounts of trouble.  East Antrim eased off after their goal and paid the price for their sloppiness by conceding an equaliser to the ten men just before half time.  Coaches Donald Blair and Neil McAllister re-focused the side during the interval and a much more efficient side came out in the second half.  Josh Beggs made his first appearance as a second half substitute, coming on early for Robert Gould.  After a slow start, Robert settled into his role at right back and he certainly is a great asset to the side.  Josh’s introduction added a little freshness to the right side of the pitch. 

It was not long before East Antrim got their second goal of the match.  After some shocking shooting, Ainsley Gray finally got one right and buried the ball in the bottom corner of the net after some excellent work by Andrew Benson.  To be fair, Ainsley’s shooting was the only slack part of his game as he led the side with great distinction throughout.  David Swann got the third goal soon after, well assisted by the tireless Ali Bell and Ali added a fourth late on, his second of the match and third of the day, assisted by Andrew Benson.  ‘Slick’ Benson put on a super performance in this match, working from box to box, and his two assists were a credit to his hard work and creative play.  Shaun Richards showed a wonderful repertoire of incisive passing throughout both matches and thoroughly deserved his rest at the end of the second match, replaced by Karl Love.  On being taken off, the only words he had the energy to utter were, “I’m knackered!”. 

The whole squad played their part in taking East Antrim to the semi finals for the third year running.  An away trip to Portadown awaits the side on Thursday night (14.05), hopefully to be followed by the final at Nortel Recreation Ground on Friday night (15.05).