Depleted Ballinamallard lose out in first game of league split

Knockbreda 2 Ballinamallard United 0

Ballinamallard United fell to defeat against the league’s bottom club on Tuesday as they lost 2-0 to Knockbreda in their first post-split fixture.

The Mallards were hit by injury and unavailability in attacking areas with Josh McIlwaine suspended, Callum Moorehead injured, and Darragh Byrne unavailable. Aaron Harkin was also unavailable to take his normal midfield berth, so Canning was forced into changes with five of the starting 11 from the win against Annagh United dropping out. In came Daniel Barker in attack, with starts also for Dean Corrigan, John Edgar, Gary Armstrong and Aaron Smyton.

Ballinamallard had most of the possession in the opening stages of the contest and John Edgar, who scored a last-gasp winner against Annagh last week, had the first effort at goal but his header from Ryan Morris’ cross was straight at goalkeeper Jason Craughwell.

Mallard’s captain Aaron Arkinson then burst forward from right back and slid a pass down the side of the centre-back for Gary Armstrong, but his shot was blocked by the legs of the keeper.

The Mallards continued to push forward and Smyton delivered a tantalising cross that just evaded the Ballinamallard attackers.

Edgar had another header fly wide of the post, before Barker headed over the bar from Smyton’s cross, while at the other end, a Breda header wide of the post was the closest they came to breaking the deadlock.

In the second half, it was the home team that started on the front foot.

They pushed Ballinamallard back and won a series of corners and free kicks in and around the penalty area.

Jamie Ray was twice called into action to make crucial saves in the opening minutes of the second period, but six minutes into the half Breda took the lead when a free kick was fed wide, and Marcus Murphy headed in the cross from eight yards out.

Ballinamallard were still having most of the possession but struggling to carve out chances in front of goal, with their best effort an off-target header from Arkinson.

Knockbreda are the lowest scorers in the Championship, but they added a second just after the hour mark when they converted from a corner through Caleb Crawford.

Ballinamallard made four changes with 20 minutes remaining, with Canning introducing Simon Warrington, Nick Palmer, Ultan O’Grady and James McGrath but the quartet did little to revive Ballinamallard’s fortunes as Knockbreda held on to seal only their fourth league win of the season.