Saturday 18
April 3.00pm Kick off at Riada Stadium
Ballymoney United 4 v Limavady United 1
Ballymoney United took the three points at home when they defeated neighbours Limavady United 4-1 at the Riada Stadium on Saturday.
The home side got off to a dream start on three minutes when McLernon’s quick free kick was played down the line to Nicholl who cut in and beat the oncoming Matty McGraw in the Limavady goal.
Nicholl was causing the Limavady defence all sorts of problems and only a block by Kelly denied him his second goal of the game
Ballymoney sensed the Limavady were rattled by the early goal and went in search for more and centre forward Richard Reid had the opportunity to extend the lead when a left footed cross from McLernon was headed straight into the goal keeper’s hands.
Limavady’s first attack on the home goal was on 30 minutes when a speculative
25-yard shot from number 9 Lee Harkin was tipped over the bar by keeper Smyth and then with no more than a minute gone a 20-yard effort by Stephen Lowry sailed past the home team’s post.
Then on 38 minutes a corner from McLernon was powerfully headed home for The Toon by Denver Gage to make it 2-0 and the score remained at this until the half time break.
With the second half six minutes old McGraw failed to gather a long corner and the ball fell perfectly for centre back Surgenor who controlled it with the right foot before blasting home with the left from inside the six-yard box.
Four minutes later Limavady managed to pull a goal back when a poor touch by McLernon inside the box was picked up by the Roesiders’ Steven Whoriskey to leave the score line at 3-1.
On 66 minutes a mistake by central defender Mark Surgenor allowed Declan McKeever to run through only to see his shot pulled past the post when he already had keeper Smyth beaten.
Ballymoney continued to push forward at every opportunity and with 20 minutes remaining full back Michael McQuitty shot from 20 yards only for McGraw to make a fine save.
With 15 minutes remaining substitute Gareth McLaughlin beat the offside trap but blasted high and wide when it appeared that it would have been easier to score.
With one minute of normal time remaining the home side sealed the victory when they scored their fourth when Gerard Gillan collected a square ball from Aiden O’Kane before looking up and blasting home his 20-yard right footed shot past the helpless McGraw into the back of the net.
11
YELLOW CARDS 
RED CARDS 
