Ballyclare Comrades began their 2024 with the end of an era, progressing into the Sixth Round of the Irish Cup but saying a heartfelt goodbye to their days on grass at Dixon Park.
Their 5-2 victory over Strabane Athletic was the final first-team match at the east Antrim venue before a new artificial surface is installed.
Announcing their intentions earlier in the 2023/24 season to transition to a synthetic pitch, its completion will herald a fresh dawn as the Comrades become the latest team in the Irish League to move away from a natural lawn.
It has been suggested that the project could cost upwards of £500,000 and, keen to start work in the new year, Ballyclare set about flipping a large portion of games from away to home in the first half of the season – indeed, up until the split in the Playr-Fit Championship, they have just one ‘home’ outing.
Stephen Small’s side will also play host to Dungannon Swifts in the last-16 of the Irish Cup at a yet-to-be-confirmed ground.
But upon the final whistle of a five-star display against Strabane, hitherto the sole Ballymena Intermediate League representative remaining in the competition, there was the sense that a long-standing age had come to an end.
Ballyclare were slick and ultimately proved too hot to handle after they secured their safe passage into the Sixth Round and, having reached the quarter-finals of Ireland’s oldest football cup competition last year, will only naturally have ambitions of sealing further progress in this knock-out setting.
They started the goal count merely three minutes in – and less than 180 seconds into Lee McGreevy’s debut, which he marked with a goal just days after the five-and-a-half-year Knockbreda stalwart joined earlier in the week.
Fellow new boy Caolan Donnelly, who arrived on a half-season loan from Larne in midweek, also scored on his Ballyclare bow 23 minutes in to double the lead before defender Owen McConville hit the mark before half-time to make it a three-goal cushion for Small’s troops.
Aodhan Doherty struck for Co Tyrone team Strabane 10 minutes after the restart but it only preceded two further Comrades finishes, with sharp-shooter Darius Roohi and youngster Michael Leetch making it 5-1 by the midway point of the second period.
Although blue-and-white-striped Strabane made a further inroad before the end, with Jamie Harris bagging a last-minute consolation, the hosts – sixth-place in the second-tier and in a three-way tie on 37 points at the time of writing – ran away emphatic victors on the day.
It will be an adaptation for Ballyclare as they prepare to rack up the travel miles in the next few months, but a cup run can be a motivating factor to underpin strong league form and set them in good stead for when they do return to Dixon, by which point it will be on synthetic turf they play on.
Overall, it was a strong round for Championship clubs, with six progressing and four of them drawing each other in the Sixth Round.
Portadown ousted Carrick Rangers on penalties and set up a clash with Bangor, who counted on Jordan Hughes’ substitute heroics to beat Dergview, at Shamrock Park. Meanwhile, Ards – the producers of the undisputed upset of the Fifth Round when they conquered defending Irish Cup champions Crusaders on spot-kicks following a 1-1 draw at Seaview – travel to the Brandywell to take on Institute, who defeated a battling Crumlin Star in extra-time.
Elsewhere, Newington, who overcame second-tier leaders Dundela thanks to Paul Donnelly’s double, entertain Premiership basement dwellers Newry City.
Featured image from Sean MacIntyre/Strabane Athletic FC Media.
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