BALLINAMALLARD UNITED V GLENAVON, A LOOK AHEAD

On Saturday 12^th September 2026 Glenavon faces Ballinamallard United at Ferney Park in its seventh BOYLE Sports Championship fixture.

Ballinamallard United has made an inconsistent start to the league season. It has beaten Institute (2-1), Dundela (2-1) and Loughgall (6-1) but has lost against Newry City (1-0), Moyola Park (2-0) and Annagh United (3-1). Last time out United scored five second half goals in a convincing 6-1 success at Lakeview Park.

Glenavon boss Michael O’Connor is expecting a tough 90 minutes in County Fermanagh. “It will be another tough game. Ballinamallard will be full of confidence after the win against Loughgall,” he said. “The pitch at Ferney Park is always immaculate. They try to play the right way. It should be a good football match.”

The Belfast man hopes that his players can put the disappointment of last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Wilgar Park behind them and return to winning ways. “I have told the boys that the result at Dundela is behind us. It is gone. The important thing now is to start picking up points again immediately,” he said. “We went five unbeaten after the Ards result on the opening day. We need to try to do the same.”

The match in East Belfast was, of course, overshadowed by the serious injury sustained by goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly during the first half. “Lorcan has been discharged from hospital,” he continued. “He’s at home and is tired but doing well. He had a C.T. scan because of the concussion. Everything seems to be okay.”

O’Connor expects him to be unavailable for the rest of September and perhaps longer. “It isn’t possible to set a date on his return,” Michael added. “The concussion protocol is 21 days. Lorcan had quite nasty facial injuries as well so it may be longer. Whatever happens, we won’t ask him to play again until the medical advice is that he has completely recovered.”

Last Saturday, despite the result, Michael took many positives. “For long periods in the match, particularly in the second half, we were really good,” he said. “Ethan Devine missed a chance from 4 yards in the first ten minutes which he should have scored and we had multiple opportunities after the break. We hit the crossbar twice, their goalkeeper made a series of outstanding saves and we went close several other times. We scored twice but could easily have scored five or six goals.”

But, of course, Glenavon went 2-0 down after just 12 minutes and conceded a third early in the second half. “We could have been three or four behind in the opening minutes,” said O’Connor. “You cannot start matches like that away from home and expect to pick up points. The first goal came from a deep free kick which we didn’t deal with. They got in behind and we conceded a penalty kick. Then we left a man free at a corner kick and just after half time Mark [Byrne] spilled a cross and they had a third. We are working hard to improve defensively. It’s an obvious point but we need to stop making individual errors. We can’t concede three goals and expect to win matches.”

Already six points behind early leaders Newington, Glenavon needs to pick up all three points in County Fermanagh. “The main thing is that we bounce back quickly,” added O’Connor. “When I was a player at Lincoln City we had a season when we lost the odd match but after a defeat always went on a four, five or six game winning run. That is what we need to do.”

Finally, Michael revealed that Stephen Mallon returned to training this week.