Ballymena 5
Larne 1
City Cup

Match Report

A big crowd attended the Showgrounds on Monday to see Larne and Ballymena contest for points in the City Cup competition.

Unfortunately the glorious weather had prevailed for weeks previous had given place to squalls and showers, and was none too pleasant. A few sharp showers fell during the match and made the grass slippery for the players.

Larne took the field first and were welcomed by applause from their supporters. On Ballymena appearing -the same team as won the Cup - they were greeted with an outburst of cheering, which was repeated when Referee McClean made an appearance.

The opening exchanges favoured Larne, but within six minutes of the start Jamie Shiels had the ball in the net for Ballymena's first goal. Larne put up a good fight for the equaliser, but it was fully twenty minutes before Billy White scored it with a hard close-in drive at the corner of the upright. Play was evenly distributed up to the interval.

In the first half the game looked like being one which would finish with little difference in the score, but in the second Ballymena walked away from their opponents, scoring four more goals. Jamie Shiels was responsible for Ballymena's second goal, John Reid opened the way for James Mitchell to score the third, Jamie Shiels scored the fourth, and James Mitchell got the fifth.

One of the smartest movements of the game was when Cassidy outwitted five or six opponents after one another and then shot for goal, his effort only being saved at the expense of a corner.

Match report written by Ballymena Observer (5 April 1929)