Ballinamallard striker Ryan Mayse has admitted that being dropped from the squad earlier in the season has been the catalyst for his recent run of good form. The former Strathroy Harps and Dergview striker had often been a peripheral figure in the first team since his arrival last winter, but his omission from the Ballymena match spurred him on and since that snub he has been one of the key performers in Ballinamallard’s resurgence.
The striker made a substitute appearance in the season opener against Linfield and did not get off the bench in the following match at Portadown, but his Ballymena exclusion may yet prove to the most pivotal moment of his Ballinamallard career. “Ever since that I have been flat out training and I have been going to the gym,” he revealed. “After the first game of the season the players that didn’t play had to go out for a few extra runs. I played half an hour that day and Gavin said to me ‘Maysey go you out, you’re not fit enough’. I don’t know if he was being serious or not but that got my head focused in and I tried to get myself fitter, and now I think I am in good nick. The big turning point was the Ballymena game and getting left out of the squad completely. To train during the week and then go up there and only watch was so frustrating.”
Following his signing in the January transfer window, Mayse failed to find the net in his first season with the club. His first Ballinamallard goal finally arrived in the three all draw at Carrick Rangers, and he followed that up with a League Cup goal against Dundela and one against the champions at Seaview on Saturday. He is now hoping he can add his first Ferney park league goal on Saturday.
“Lecky is checking up now to see how many I’ve got! He’s afraid I’m going to catch him,” he joked. “It took me a while to get my feet under the table and adjust to the Irish League but thankfully now I think I have made that adjustment and now I want to push on and get a few more goals to my name. Eighteen months ago I was playing in the Fermanagh and Western and scoring goals for Strathroy, and on Saturday I was scoring at Seaview, so it just shows you the difference. I went from Strathroy to Dergview and there was a step up there, and from Dergview to Ballinamallard is completely day and night as well. The intensity levels in the Irish League are second to none. You have to be on your game and you can’t have a bad day. You might have a bad day at Dergview and get away with it but in the Irish league you get punished. You can’t dwell on the ball or you will just get smashed.”
Having made the breakthrough into the first eleven in recent weeks, he can now look back and he admits that his early struggles to win a starting spot had been infuriating. 
“I was going home every Saturday like a bull! I was so frustrated. I have to thank Whitey for bringing me to the club and giving me a chance in the Irish league but obviously I was frustrated not playing. I was training on Tuesday and Thursday and wanted to play Saturday, but for the benefit of the team Whitey thought that maybe coming off the bench and breaking me in was more beneficial.”
Ryan’s goals have coincided with Ballinamallard upturn in form, and he admits that six points in a week did a lot to improve the mood around the club. “It’s a lot rosier now,” he acknowledged. “We hadn’t won in six games and although at training everyone was chomping at the bit, it is completely different now about the camp and there is a bit of craic which you need. Dyksey, Crawford and Steve have brought positivity this year. I’m not saying Whitey didn’t but they have brought a totally different line to it and there is no negativity whatsoever among the lads.”
Ballinamallard’s run of two successive victories was unsurprisingly ended by Crusaders last Saturday but Mayse says the defeat will not harm the team’s new found confidence. “Crusaders are in a different league and truth be told they bossed the game. We were feeding on scraps going forward but you have to expect that when you are playing the champions. They showed on Saturday why they are the best team in the league by a country mile. We have played Linfield, Glenavon and Cliftonville and people said we had no chance but we only lost by a goal to Linfield and Cliftonville, and we beat Glenavon. We created chances in those games but on Saturday we weren’t really in the game at all at any stage. Crusaders were so superior.”
Next up are local rivals Dungannon Swifts at Ferney Park, and Ryan is in no doubt about the magnitude of the game. “Things are coming together and it’s another big game against Dungannon on Saturday,” he said. “Last year we played them twice and they were in my opinion the best footballing side we had played against. Rodney has got them playing some good football and they like to play out from the back with nice triangles and good movement. I was up at Dungannon when I was younger and they are a good club and it’s nice to see them and Ballinamallard doing well, but realistically this is a game we can target. It is the teams below us and around us that we need to beat, and then you can go to the likes of Glenavon and Cliftonville and if you get anything it’s a bonus. If we win we are only two behind them and if we lose we are eight behind them so it is massive.”