Crawford misses out at Coleraine
Published 11 Feb 2012 14:00
Andy Crawford has lost his race for fitness and misses Ballinamallard's big Irish Cup tie at Coleraine Showgrounds.
And with Feeney still out injured, the task of leading the attack falls to Stephen Sheridan. The line-up for the big game sees Sheridan playing as a lone striker, a task which his young but broad shoulders should well be up to.
Crawford's absence is one of two changes in personnel for the tie, the other being Craig Hill stepping down to the bench. Crawford and Hill are replaced by James McKenna and Danny Keohane with Whitey Anderson reshaping his outfit.
Keohane for Hill is a straight swap at left back, but McKenna's return to midfield will see Chris Curran play as a second striker. One would imagine he will play in the hole behind Sheridan, just in front of a midfield quartet of Hutchinson, Kee, McKenna and McCartney.
Throughout the morning, there has been much interest in the Ballinamallard tie, with busloads and carloads of supporters from Fermanagh heading up to the north coast.
They included a youth team bus, with two young Mallards teams leaving early (see attached picture of them leaving).
And the day started well for the Ballinamallard youth teams. Both the under-13s and under 15s defeated their Coleraine counterparts in National League games which kicked off at noon.
The under-15s won 5-1 with goals from Matty Smith, Luke Corrigan (2), Ryan Morris and Michael Dooris.
Ballinamallard under-13s defeated Coleraine 4-3, the scorers being John Reihill, Angus Keys, Ronan Quinn and Brandon Horan.
The social networking site Twitter has also been active this morning, with many messages of goodwill for Ballinamallard.
They included Glasgow Rangers star, Andy Little who sent a message of "massive good luck" to his former Fermanagh club. "Would love to be there" added Andy, who was with the Rangers squad which beat Dunfermline 4-1 in the early kick, David Healey among the scorers.
All eyes now turn to the Coleraine Showgrounds to see how Ballinamallard contest against Premier League high fliers, Coleraine.
Ballinamallard team: McGrath, McConkey, Stafford, Carters, Keohane, Hutchinson, Kee, McKenna, McCartney, Chris Curran, Sheridan. Subs: Murphy, Liggett, Higginbotham, Gary Curran, Hill.
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 11 Feb 12
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