Mikhail Kennedy scores twice as Institute win again!

Institute 2

Ballyclare Comrades 0

Mikhail Kennedy scored at the end of each half as Institute secured a third victory of the season over Ballyclare. 

The striker scored from the penalty spot to send his team in ahead at the break, but he had to wait until 96 minutes before grabbing his second, to seal a hard-fought win over a difficult opponent.

‘Stute could have had a goal as early as the fifth minutes when Tiarnan McKinney’s corner found Dylan King, who had peeled off towards the back post, but his downward header was hacked off the line by Owen McConville.

Ballyclare responded with a near miss of their own as Calvin McCurry was allowed to turn in the ‘Stute area and fire a ball across goal which Michael Morgan was so close to turning in from close range

It looked like it would be goalless heading into the break, but ‘Stute made the breakthrough in the very last minute of the first half. Tiarna McKinney played the ball through for Kennedy to chase, and he got there before goalkeeper Breen, winning his team a penalty. The striker picked himself up and drove the ball right down the middle to give his team a huge boost at just the right time.

Half Time 1-0

There was little threat about the visitors, but as long as it stayed 1-0, ‘Stute were never comfortable, and that was emphasised on 64 minutes when Michael Morgan’s shot – Ballyclare’s first effort on target, squirmed through Gareth Muldoon’s hands, but fortunately for the goalkeeper the ball went behind for a corner rather than into the net.

Ballyclare thought they had their equaliser on 82 minutes when substitute Conal McWilliams-Small, on the pitch a matter of seconds, put the ball through Muldoon’s legs into the net, only to turn and see an offside flag deny him his moment.

Lightning struck twice for McWilliams-Small and Ballyclare, as the same thing happened in the 92nd minutes, with the offside flag again denying the visitors.

Oisin Devlin commited himself to a challenge in midfield, but lost out and ‘Stute were left short on numbers at the back. Gary Donnelly took on King and tried to sneak a low shot around the defender and into the net, but Muldoon got a hand to it at the very last second, and pushed it away. The ball spun into the path of McWilliams-Small, who tapped it into the empty net, but the heart-in-the-mouth moment ended with frustration for Ballyclare and relief for ‘Stute.

That was a significant moment as ‘Stute then sealed the win just seconds later. Michael Harris and Breen got involved in a race to a loose ball just on the edge of the Ballyclare penalty area, and although the goalkeeper got there first, he could only clear the ball to Kennedy, who confidently swept the ball over the stranded goalkeeper and into the net.

The players and management gathered in a moment of great celebration on the sidelines, showing just how much the goal and the win meant to everyone at the end of a very testing day at the Brandywell.

Teams

INSTITUTE: Gareth Muldoon, Caoimhin Porter (Fionn McClure 84’), Shaun Leppard, Evan Tweed, Shane McGinty (Orrin McLaughlin 70’), Dylan King, Tiarnan McKinney (BJ Banda 70’), Oisin Devlin, Mikhail Kennedy, Michael Harris, Shane Boyle (Bobby Deane 89’).

BALLYCLARE: Declan Breen, Owen McConville, Liam Hassin, Calvin McCurry (Darius Roohi 86’), Tomas Gilmour, Caolan Donnelly, Michael Morgan (Conal McWilliams-Small 82’), Bobby Higgins, Lee McGreevy (Brian Healy 58’), Gary Donnelly, Alan McMurtry.

REFEREE: Glenn Buchanan.