Seniors’ Junior Shield hopes ended

Colts seniors saw their hopes of Junior Shield glory dashed in a game in Ballymena against Braid United that they should really have won.

The Colts were far and away the better team in the first half with a number of shots on goal while their opponents failed to test goalkeeper John Mulholland.

Darragh Brownlee had several efforts  on target with Adam Shilliday a constant threat down the left hand side with his pace and trickery on his last game before heading off to Australia for a year.

Carryduff looked comfortable going in level at half time with Fergus McBride and Kealan Devlin dominating midfield and Conor Cassidy and Rory McDonnell dominant at the back, along with the excellent Paul Maguire and Sparky Hegney.

Paul Murphy was also a threat going forward on the right flank and got into a number of promising situations while Calum McSorley’s hard work and pace put the home team’ defence under pressure.

But it was Braid who took the lead 10 minutes into the second half against the run of play on the hour made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

Colts pulled a goal back on 65 minutes when Kealan Devlin found Brownlee who best the defender before drilling the ball into the corner of the net.

Shilliday made a great run down the left and fired over a terrific cross but no one was able to apply the finishing touch. Subs Sean Irwin and Arron Waddell were introduced and both had chances, while Jack Crompton also made an impact.

But just as it looked like an equaliser was on the cards the Ballymena team scored a third on the break.

This was the first defeat in seven games and now the focus will be on next week’s huge game against Newcastle Swifts, the only team to have inflicted a league defeat on Carryduff, at Lough Moss next Saturday (2pm).

Colts Mulholland, Hegney, Maguire, McDonnell, Cassidy, McBride, Murphy (Irwin) Devlin, McSorley (Waddell) Shilliday, Brownlee (Crompton)

Meanwhile the seconds kept up their push for the Third Division title with a terrific 6-1 win over Dromara Village.

Two goals apiece from Jonny Henry, Eoin Madden and Nico McDaid sealed the points in what was their best performance of the season.

The Colts also played out the last 15 minutes with 10 men as man of the match Jamie Maynes had to go off injured after a clash with the goalkeeper after all subs had been used.

There were strong performances all over with Cathal McNally, Eoin McDonnell, McDaid all and best of all Maynes especially good.