Dundela 0 Ballinamallard Utd 4 (aet)

Ten man Ballinamallard defied the odds to progress to the last 16 of the League Cup, responding to the sending off of Chris Kelly by scoring four in extra time, including a hat-trick from Reece Byrne.

Dundela had replaced their manager during the week and new boss Niall Currie was looking for a winning start to his reign, but the Ballinamallard side had other ideas, with manager Harry McConkey hailed the performance as among the best he has overseen during his time at the club.

“I would say it is one of my proudest results in all my time with the team,” admitted McConkey.

“We went into the lion’s den with Niall Currie determined to start well, and he had them fired up.

“They battled really hard and there was a huge physical element to their game, but also the cleverness of Michael Smith up front, but the way the boys conducted themselves in terms of discipline, energy, drive, and how they defended the box with their lives as well as being a real threat up top.

“All of it pleased me, and when we got in front there was no getting us back.”

“I felt in the second half they might have tired, but they kept coming, and that was even harder when we went to ten men. We were very frustrated at Chris (Kelly) being sent off. We thought that was extremely harsh, and in effect we played for 39 minutes with ten men, but yet in the last 30 minutes we outran them and out played them, and the goals were great quality.

“Our subs all came on with great effect with Reece (Byrne), Alex (Holder), (Richard) Clarkey and Henderson.

“They all added something when they came on and that pleased me so much and showed that we have depth in the squad.

“That is the second clean sheet in a row and we have managed to find the net eight times, and that obviously pleased me.”

The Mallards went into the match boosted by their recent victory over Championship league leaders Newry, with manager Harry McConkey fielding a strong line up for the cup game as they looked to gather some momentum ahead of a crucial period of the season.

It was top scorer BJ Banda who created the first opportunity of the match, but he fired straight at Matthews in the Dundela goal. Full back Ryan Morrow was next to test Matthews, but his powerful shot was deflected away from goal by the keeper.

Dundela were working hard to impress their new boss, and they came close to opening the scoring when Brown turned a volley over the bar. Edgar then had a chance saved for the visitors just before the half time interval, and just after the break it was Banda who had a shot saved.

Most of the goal scoring opportunities were falling to Ballinamallard and central defender McLaughlin was next to try his luck but again his effort was saved by the busy Matthews.

The game looked to have tilted towards Dundela when Chris Kelly received a harsh second yellow card ten minutes before the final whistle, but the Mallards held on for extra time, and then struck four times in the added 30 minutes to seal the victory.

Reece Byrne produced a great turn inside the penalty area and fired home with the help of a deflection at the near post four minutes into the added period, before Banda increased the lead five minutes later when he converted Byrne’s pass.

Byrne then added his second, and completed his first senior hat-trick for the club when he stroked home a penalty, after Eddie Shaw had been dismissed for a foul on Banda.