Month: August 2021

The Comrades travel to the Brandywell this Tuesday evening to take on Institute in our next league fixture.

Match Info

When: Tuesday 10th August 2021 – Kick-Off 7:45pm

Where: The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

What: 2021/22 Lough 41 Championship

Entry: For supporters, of either club, you may now buy your tickets via the following link: https://institutefc.co.uk/tickets.html

As an appreciation to football supporters, Institute have decided to reduce the admission rate to £5 (Adult) and £3 (12-17yrs) for their first home game.

U12’s free when accompanied by a paying adult – Tickets for U12’s can also be requested on ticket website when Adult ticket is purchased.

Supporters bus: There is a supporters bus running to the Brandywell and back to Ballyclare on Tuesday evening with limited seats available. Contact Justyn Wallace for more info.

The Opponents

Institute suffered a 5-0 away defeat to Dergview in the opening game of the season on Saturday and so manager, Sean Connor, will be looking for a reaction from his team come Tuesday evening. ‘Stute have a very young side this season, with @NIStats on twitter (Marshall Gillespie) calculating that they had the youngest starting XI in the Lough 41 Championship with an average age of 21.7 years old (the Comrades had an average age of 25 years old on Saturday, for comparison).

The Comrades

We had an emphatic start to our 2021/22 Lough 41 Championship campaign with a 5-1 victory over Ballinamallard United at the weekend. After going a goal down early on in the game, the Comrades fought back to see out, what ended up being a comfortable victory over the County Fermanagh side. Paul Harbinson hailed the work rate of his team while emphasising that “We’ve only won one game, it counts for nothing. It sounds great, but it means nothing.”

Last Time Out

You have to go back to the 2017/18 season for the last time we played Institute. ‘Stute were the victors that day, going in at the break 2 goals to the good. A second half comeback looked on at a stage when goals from an OG and Mark Kelly gave the Comrades some hope, but Institute proved too strong and ran out 4-2 victors on the day. Institute later went on to win the league that season and gained automatic promotion to the Premiership.

The Comrades take on the Mallards in the opening fixture of the 2021/22 Lough 41 Championship campaign.

Match Info

When: Saturday 7th August 2021 – Kick-Off 3:00pm

Where: Dixon Park

What: 2021/22 Lough 41 Championship

Entry: Pay at the turnstiles – Adult £8, Concession £5. Kids under 12 FREE (must be accompanied by a paying adult).

Season ticket holders, pass holders and directors to enter through the main gate, not the turnstiles.

Season tickets are available to purchase from our online store here or visit the club shop at Dixon Park on matchdays.

The Opponents

Ballinamallard will be looking to pick up where they left off in the 2019/20 Championship season. The Mallards were sitting in the playoff spots in second place when the league was called to a halt with eight games still to play. Since then, our upcoming opponents were knocked out of the 2020/21 Irish Cup First Round, following a marathon penalty shootout at home to Dergview. Pre-season has been very positive for Harry McConkey’s men with some promising friendly results, most recently being their 3-0 victory over Premiership opposition, Warrenpoint Town, last week.

The Comrades

The debutants were the stars of the show last week as goals from Liam McKenna and Ciaran Heggarty helped us overcome Queen’s University in the BetMcLean League Cup. Paul Harbinson will take confidence that his team remained composed throughout the 90 minutes and ultimately done enough to win the game, despite Queen’s making it extremely difficult throughout. We caught up with the manager during the week to discuss the mood in the camp, what he expects from Ballinamallard and the upcoming season – watch the interview at the link below:

Last Time Out

Two second half goals secured a 2-0 victory for the Comrades the last time these two sides met in October 2019 at Dixon Park. Scoreless at the break, Luckas Adamczyk opened the scoring on 67 minutes with an excellent turn and shot into the bottom corner from 11 yards after Ciaran Dobbin had touched the ball on. Then, a minute from time, Thomas Robinson made sure of the points with a 20-yard curling effort which Mallards keeper John Connolly couldn’t keep out despite getting a hand to it.