Bluebells & Flares

Ballymacash Rangers  7  PSNI  1

Northern Ireland Premier Intermediate League  

Admission / Programme – £8 / No

I’ll be honest, the six monthly trip to Northern Ireland crept up on me a little bit.

I think because of the Easter exertions in Devon and then in Pompey, I’d kind of dropped it down the list of priorities, but with the trip looming, something had to become a priority, and pretty quickly!

You see the plan was to follow the normal routine, a flight to Belfast, a run up to Derry combined with the Derry City game, before heading back to a game on the Saturday somewhere in the Northern Irish League.

Derry City v Shamrock Rovers was the planned game, but it posed a bit of a logistical challenge. Due to ground development works at the Brandywell Stadium, the capacity had been reduced and very few tickets were going on general sale. Those that did, got snapped up almost instantly, so I had to speak nicely to my mate Simon…..

The tickets went on sale at 9am the previous Saturday, by ten past nine I’d got a message, the boys had done good. You see to get a ticket you have to head to one of the outlets in the City and hope you are at the front of the queue. The outlets tend to be newsagents and small shops, but thankfully, someone was kind enough to get out of bed early for me!

It was an early start on the Friday followed by a drive down to Birmingham and the Mackadown Lane offsite parking facility. This is a fifteen minute courtesy bus run away from the terminal, but to be fair, as it’s half the price of the onsite parking, I can live with that. The airport was manic, the queues for security were significant and I reckon it took me 45 minutes from start to the bar, so it was a good job I set off that bit earlier than I would ordinarily need to.

Belfast International was cleared pretty quickly, the City Centre arrived in promptly, and within ten minutes I’d turned around at Europa Bus Station and was on the trusty 212 and the two hour journey to the North West.

I do enjoy the bus journey up to Derry, it’s when I can start to relax and look forward to the weekend, while at the same time maybe get a little bit of shut eye combined with taking in the Sperrin Mountain scenery. The bus landed in Derry just before 1pm, and I was to pay my regular visit to catch up with someone.

Tony runs Jacks Bar in Derry, and for a few years now I’ve always made a point of going in for my lunch and having a catch up with him. Football is always the topic of conversation, and this time around it was all about the problem with tickets at Derry City, and of course, the fact that Derby County were on the brink of promotion! I bade farewell, called in the Derby Bar (for good luck) and then made my way up the hill to my B&B in Rosemount.

I first went to Rosemount in May 2005, it was where my Grandad was raised, I wanted to go and see his house on Epworth Street. This time around, before checking in, I once again made my way to Epworth Street, almost nineteen years since the first time I hunted it down. Time does indeed fly, that first trip still feels so recent, the years may have passed, but the feelings are just the same.

A meal with John and Lyndon preceded the game, and then it was off to the Brandywell for the action. I won’t dwell too much on it, they got well beaten (3-1) but the real talking point was the incidents off the pitch. I’ve never seen any trouble at the Brandywell before now, but sadly, over the course of this season, it has started to become a problem. The away fans had a flare launched at them when some of the young Derry headbangers left the ground early to launch their attack. The flare missed them, landed on the pitch, and we then had the bizarre sight of a small child leg it onto the pitch and freely run around with the said flare in his hand! 

After a delay the game re-started, but at the final whistle the away fans were asked to make their way to the centre circle to keep them safe from the barrage of missiles that were coming in from outside the ground. This of course, was all being played out on live television!

As I left the ground, the younger Derry fans who are clearly an unwanted problem, were getting rounded on by the older Derry fans, it all got very tasty. As sirens could be heard heading towards the ground, I decided to make my way back to Rosemount. To be honest, this isn’t the Derry I know and love, hopefully by the time I next visit they’ll have solved the problem.

So, it was Saturday, and my plan was a fairly simple one. Get the bus down to Belfast, and then the train to Lisburn, for my game of choice was Ballymacash Rangers v PSNI, a game in the third tier of Northern Ireland.

It was a lovely day, and the timings were perfect, within ten minutes of alighting the 212 I had wandered round the corner to Great Victoria Street and was sat on the fast train to Portadown, with the first stop being Lisburn.

I’ve never set foot in Lisburn before, so I was looking forward to a little exploration. The Carden Bar was a good starting point right opposite the station, before moving into the City Centre and a nice little place called Fifteen. The old Wetherspoons has gone, but a new establishment has opened at what was the same venue and a final pint was had in The Lark. I liked the look of Lisburn, it had a nice feel about it, and at the same time it was clean, and seemingly prosperous. The linen industry, for what Lisburn was famed for, looks to have served the place well over the years!

Ballymacash Rangers play at the Bluebell Stadium, which is a fifteen minute walk from the centre of Lisburn. Heading in a North Westerly direction you head back under the railway line, along Prince William Road, and then drop through a housing estate where the ground is located. Bluebell Stadium is a 3G pitch, with a clubhouse and dressing rooms on the North side of the complex, although a smart new two story building is mid-construction on the half way line and it looks like that might be a replacement for the existing structures.

Furniture wise, a small seated stand sits in one corner, while an area of cover with tables beneath sits to the left just as you go through the turnstiles. You can access all four sides of the ground, and while my initial thoughts were of a municipal complex, this very much feels like it’s the home of Ballymacash Rangers and the many teams that sit under the clubs umbrella. Development work started on the site in 2019 when the club announced it’s plans to move into the Northern Ireland Football League, and via community funding, they’ve developed it into what it is today, with work clearly still ongoing.

Pre-match I took to the bar and watched out of the window as the teams warmed up, and lucky old me, I only went and bought a half time draw ticket, which ended up being the winner! 

The club were formed in 1984, and in more recent years have competed in the Mid-Ulster League, a competition that they won in 2021-22 season which allowed them to compete in a play-off against St James’ Swifts who were champions of the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. A two legged victory saw them promoted to the Premier Intermediate League. 

This season (I’m writing this a couple of weeks after visiting), the club ended up finishing in third place, missing out on a Play-Off spot by three points to Armagh City, whereas visiting PSNI (the local plod), finished rock bottom, with their future uncertain, but I would assume they will be duly relegated?

The game itself followed the pattern you would expect given the league placings, an own goal from Ben Mitchell gave the hosts a first half lead, but then as we moved into the second half they ran riot. Braces for Carl McComb, Dylan Sinnerton and Michael Moore saw them find the net seven times, with the solitary reply coming from Henry Capper. Moore’s second goal, Ballymacash’s seventh, was an absolute belter by the way, the highlights are on You Tube!

So it was back to Lisburn Railway Station, a short journey back to Belfast and some tea in Bedford Street Wetherspoons before checking into my lodgings just off the Falls Road. All had gone to plan, all was good in the World, roll on the Autumn cos I’m coming back.

I do hope Derry will have cleaned up their act by then…..