Ballinamallard midfielder Niall Grace has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after he suffered a broken leg in the Ferney Park clash against Institute on Saturday.

The game was abandoned after ten minutes of play following Grace’s clash with Liam Walsh, with the ex-Institute player suffering a double leg break and also receiving a red card for the challenge.

Remaining positive

Manager Harry McConkey revealed that the player is remaining positive, despite his season coming to a sudden and painful end.

“He is a strong lad and it is never easy but he seems to be in reasonably good spirits considering,” said the manager. “It is never nice for anybody to be taken off the pitch in that manner.

“He has been operated on. His tibia and fibula were both fractured and he had pins inserted and our thoughts are very much with him at this time. The realisation that his season was over is difficult, but he will have plenty of support from a tight knit group of staff and players, and the supporters have all been very generous with their comments to him.”

Treated on pitch

Grace was treated on the pitch for an extended period as he waited for an ambulance to arrive, with the referee making the call to abandon the game.

“The referee was the one who called the game off,” explained McConkey.

“With the uncertainty about how long it would take the ambulance to get there, playing would be hard and he did seek advice and got back to myself and Brian Donaghy (Institute manager) to say he was going to give it ten minutes and if the ambulance wasn’t there, he would abandon it. Brian or I didn’t have any say in it.

“It was hugely disappointing for everybody concerned, and there was a good crowd at the ground and anticipation of a good game, so it was disappointing, but everybody understood that in those circumstances there wasn’t really a lot of choice in the matter.”

Ballinamallard and Institute will now have to await the decision of NIFL who will decide how the game will be resolved.

Committee decision

The committee have three option open to them and can chose to replay the game in its entirety, replay the outstanding minutes, or let the result stand as a completed fixture.

The injury and its aftermath left its mark on the Ballinamallard squad, and with the scheduled midweek League Cup game against Portadown postponed until October 26, McConkey was quick to get them back on the pitch on Tuesday evening ahead of Saturday’s trip to Dundela.

“After a blow like that you realise very quickly that life goes on and you have to gather yourself, and I arranged an 11 v 11 game on Ferney for Tuesday night because some players have lost valuable game time,” he revealed.

A good exercise

Harry added: “I thought it would be a good exercise to get a run out on Ferney under lights and get us right back at it because it is a big game for us again on Saturday, and Dundela have had a lift with a new manager.

“They beat Welders 4-0 and drew with Newry, and they gave Ballyclare a heck of a game on Saturday even thought they lost 1-0.

“People will look at the score line in the cup when it was 4-0, but up until 90 minutes it was nip and tuck and it was only in extra time we pulled away.

“We certainly can’t be getting carried away with that score line. Even at the very beginning of the season, to see them down where they were was quite baffling, and those players have good potential. We have to be right at the top of our game again on Saturday to combat them.”

Ballinamallard will be forced to go into the game with an injury hit defensive line, with Ben McCann and Ryan Morris not available and Dean Curry facing a late fitness test.

Captain Richard Clarke will also miss the clash through injury.