Ballymena United 2
Newry Town (City) 1
League (Irish Premier League)
Ballymena UnitedBallymena United |
2 - 12 - 1 |
NewryNewry |
 |
League (Irish Premier League) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Paddy McLaughlin (o.g.) (37) Gordon Simms (88) |
Damien Curran (41) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Kenny Shiels |
Roy McCreadie |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
Robert Robinson Gordon Simms Gary Smyth Ciaran Donaghy Albert Watson Garth Scates Mark Hughes Oran Kearney Joe Gray Rory Hamill Eddie Hill |
Gavin Cullen Stephen Johnston Gareth Fulton Robert Casey Paddy McLaughlin Ruairi Boyle Stephen Ferguson Damien Curran Paul Keenan Michael Ward Barry Meehan |
| Bench | |
|
Nigel Boyd Dominic Melly Shea Campbell |
Conor Larkin Paul Donegan Austin Friel |
| Substitutions | |
|
Dominic Melly for Rory Hamill (43) Nigel Boyd for Oran Kearney (46) Shea Campbell for Mark Hughes (81) |
Austin Friel for Stephen Ferguson (73) |
| Cautions | |
| None. | None. |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
David Malcolm (Bangor) (Referee) |
Match Report
BALLYMENA United left it very late to pick up all three points from this keenly fought Irish Premier League clash at The Showgrounds.
A Gordon Simms header two minutes from the end was enough to seperate the sides who both had a point to prove after a less than sparkling opening to their respective campaigns.
It was the visitors who looked the more menacing early on, however, with a couple of opportunities in the first three minutes through Paul Keenan and Stephen Johnston being blocked while the latter turned his rebound onto the post.
United moved in front, though, eight minutes from the break as a result of a Joe Gray free-kick which appeared to come off defender Paddy McLaughlin.
Newry levelled barely three minutes later when Gareth Fulton and Barry Meehan combined to create an opening for Damien Curran to fire home from 20 yards.
And that was how it stayed until that 88th minute winner from defender Simms, a header from a Nigel Boyd corner.
Match report written by Official Irish Premier League website
Squad Statistics (as at October 2nd, 2004)
| 2004-2005 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Robert Robinson (GK) | 29 |
|
11 | - | 54 | - |
| Gordon Simms | 23 |
|
8 | 1 | 18 | 3 |
| Gary Smyth | 34 |
|
11 | - | 11 | - |
| Ciaran Donaghy | 22 |
|
11 | - | 48 | - |
| Albert Watson | 19 |
|
9 | - | 67 | - |
| Joe Gray | 23 |
|
6 | 1 | 73 | 5 |
| Oran Kearney | 26 |
|
11 | - | 90 | 27 |
| Garth Scates | 25 |
|
6 | - | 24 | 3 |
| Mark Hughes | 20 |
|
3 | - | 3 | - |
| Rory Hamill | 28 |
|
9 | 5 | 9 | 5 |
| Eddie Hill | 26 |
|
8 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Nigel Boyd (sub) | 31 |
|
7 | - | 315 | 21 |
| Dominic Melly (sub) | 17 |
|
1 | - | 4 | - |
| Shea Campbell (sub) | 23 |
|
10 | 1 | 140 | 69 |
League Table (as at October 2nd, 2004)
| Pld | W | D | L | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Portadown | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2. | Loughgall | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 3. | Ards | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 4. | Dungannon Swifts | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 5. | Linfield | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6. | BALLYMENA UTD | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7. | Larne | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 8. | Cliftonville | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 9. | Limavady United | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10. | Coleraine | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11. | Glentoran | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 12. | Newry | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 13. | Distillery | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 14. | Institute | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 15. | Crusaders | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 16. | Omagh Town | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |