Europa League playoff semifinal: Ballymena Utd 5-2 Dungannon Swifts
Ballymena qualified for the final of the Europa League playoff after seeing off Dungannon 5-2 in a game that started and finished in frantic fashion.
It means they’ll host Glenavon in Friday’s final after they defeated Cliftonville 5-3 at Solitude.
Tony Kane fired the home side into a lead in just the third minute after a huge slice of luck. Much has been written about the state of the Showgrounds pitch, but on this occasion it helped the home side.
Kane had a crack from distance with a speculative volley, but it skipped off the uneven turf, bounced awkwardly, and then skimmed off the shoulder of Stuart Addis before landing in the back of the net.
Dungannon’s awful start then saw Andrew Burns sent off in the fifth minute for a mindless lunge on Leroy Millar just inside the Ballymena half.
9 minutes before the break Ballymena doubled their lead through Joe McKinney. He collected the ball wide on the left before taking a step inside and lashing a 25-yard effort into the top right hand corner.
The match was put beyond any doubt in the 40th minute when Ballymena were awarded a penalty after Douglas Wilson hauled down Jonathan McMurray and got himself booked in the process.
Tony Kane has effectively ensured that spot kicks are guaranteed goals for the Sky Blues, and he slotted his 14th of the season, drilling it into the bottom right corner for his 21st goal of the campaign.
Dungannon burst into life early in the second half, forcing 2 saves from Ross Glendinning who had to tip away headers from Peter McMahon and then Douglas Wilson.
They pulled one back with 64 minutes played after McMahon teed up Kris Lowe who fired past Glendinning.
The home side hit back quickly, and Ballymena went 4-1 up just 5 minutes later with McMurray tapping into an empty net after some fine work by William Faulkner who had raced clear behind the Swifts’ defence.
A superb left-footed finish from outside the box by Jamie Glackin made it 4-2 in the 75th minute, before Ballymena again replied with a goal of their own. Kyle Owens rose the highest to thump home a Tony Kane corner in the 82nd minute.