BALLYMENA UNITED

BALLYMENA SHOWGROUNDS
club-logo

Fixtures

November

Saturday 9 November 2024

Saturday 16 November 2024

Saturday 23 November 2024

Saturday 30 November 2024

December

Saturday 7 December 2024

Saturday 14 December 2024

Saturday 21 December 2024

Thursday 26 December 2024

Monday 30 December 2024

January

Saturday 11 January 2025

Saturday 18 January 2025

Saturday 25 January 2025

February

Saturday 8 February 2025

Saturday 15 February 2025

Saturday 22 February 2025

March

Saturday 8 March 2025

Saturday 15 March 2025

Saturday 22 March 2025

Results

November

Tuesday 5 November 2024

Friday 1 November 2024

October

Saturday 26 October 2024

Saturday 19 October 2024

Saturday 12 October 2024

Saturday 5 October 2024

Tuesday 1 October 2024

September

Saturday 28 September 2024

Saturday 21 September 2024

Tuesday 17 September 2024

Saturday 14 September 2024

Saturday 7 September 2024

August

Friday 30 August 2024

Saturday 24 August 2024

Tuesday 20 August 2024

Friday 16 August 2024

Saturday 10 August 2024

Current Squad

No Name Position Age Apps Sub on Sub off Discipline Goals
1 club-logo Sean O'Neill GK 36 13 0 0 0 0  0
2 club-logo Kym Nelson DEF 29 14 0 2 1 0  2
3 club-logo Daniel Lafferty DEF 35 12 0 3 3 0  1
4 club-logo Donal Rocks MID 24 15 0 6 5 0  0
6 club-logo Colin Coates DEF 39 0 0 0 0 0  0
7 club-logo Alex Gawne FOR 23 11 10 1 0 0  0
8 club-logo Aaron Jarvis MID 27 10 0 2 2 0  1
9 club-logo Ben Kennedy FOR 27 15 0 3 4 0  11
10 club-logo Mikey Place MID 26 4 3 1 0 0  0
11 club-logo Joseph Moore MID 23 9 5 3 1 0  1
12 club-logo Andy Scott FOR 24 13 1 10 3 0  1
14 club-logo John Herron MID 30 1 1 0 1 0  0
15 club-logo Stephen O'Donnell DEF 32 11 4 1 3 0  0
16 club-logo Brendan Barr MID 23 0 0 0 0 0  0
19 club-logo Calvin McCurry FOR 22 14 1 5 0 0  0
20 club-logo Jack O'Mahony MID 24 0 0 0 0 0  0
23 club-logo Caolan Loughran DEF 29 4 0 2 3 0  0
24 club-logo Sean Brown DEF 19 11 5 1 1 0  0
25 club-logo Daithi McCallion DEF 19 12 2 0 0 0  0
26 club-logo Sam Johnston GK 28 2 0 0 1 0  0
27 club-logo Jonathan McMurray FOR 30 13 3 10 4 0  1
29 club-logo Ethan Devine FOR 23 8 7 1 2 0  2
30 club-logo Luke Hawe FOR 15 0 0 0 0 0  0
33 club-logo Noah Stewart FOR 20 5 5 0 0 0  0
34 club-logo Oisin Devlin MID 18 7 5 0 2 0  0
40 club-logo Colby Davidson GK 18 0 0 0 0 0  0
41 club-logo James Hood MID 17 0 0 0 0 0  0
42 club-logo Josh Carson MID 31 14 0 2 7 0  0

History & Info

football © Ballymena Guardian

Ballymena United 2023/2024


With a direct lineage dating back to April 1928, Ballymena United are considered by many as the biggest side never to have clinched the Irish League title despite several rich periods of success in the 90+ years that have followed.

Indeed, during their inaugural season (1928/29) the club, then known simply as Ballymena FC, caused shockwaves by clinching the prestigious Irish Cup for the first of six times with victory over the legendary Belfast Celtic and followed it up by reaching the final in the subsequent two seasons.

Ballymena’s time in the Irish League proved to be short lived. Expelled at the end of the 1933/34 season over a failure to submit accounts for scrutiny over the alleged illegal payments to amateur players, a merger with a local junior club and the addition of ‘United’ to the name saw the Sky Blues reinstated immediately with almost identical personnel as before.

Initially struggling, United went on to finish League/Cup runners-up in 1939 and lifting the Irish Cup again twelve months later before being forced to take an enforced break because of WW2.

After the war the club became the first outside Belfast to win the County Antrim Shield (1947/48) and again three years later, as well as the one-off Festival of Britain Cup in 1951/52, as a prologue to one of the great eras in Sky Blue history which culminated in a third Irish Cup victory in 1958 and the passing of the names of that squad into sporting legend in the town.

Apart from an Ulster Cup victory at the start of the decade the 1960s proved to be a barren period. The early to mid-70s saw silverware arrive in the form of the City Cup, Gold Cup and Shield and, as the 80s approached, a first foray into European football.

But United’s reputation as a ‘cup’ side really came to the fore when the Irish Cup became a regular feature of the Showgrounds trophy cabinet following victories in 1980/81, 1984/85 and, most recently, 1989/90.

Unfortunately for the Sky Blues that proved to be the last senior trophy to arrive on Warden Street (bar the First Division title) when the Glenn Ferguson era produced County Antrim Shield triumphs in 2012/13 and 2015/16.

Ferguson was then replaced by David Jeffrey who has, thus far, guided United to a first League Cup win (followed by two successive finals), through a round in European football for the first time in club history and the runners-up spot in the League for only the third time. 

Now it's former captain Jim Ervin's time to take the Sky Blues into the next chapter of the club's history.

Honours

  • First Division - 1996/97
  • Irish Cup - 1928/29, 1939/40, 1957/58, 1980/81, 1983/84, 1988/89
  • League Cup - 2016/17
  • Gold Cup - 1974/75
  • Ulster Cup - 1960/61, 1980/81
  • City Cup - 1971/72
  • Co. Antrim Shield - 1947/48, 1950/51, 1975/76, 1979/80, 2012/13, 2015/16
  • Festival of Britain Cup - 1951/52
Founded

1928 (as Ballymena FC)

Nickname

The Sky Blues

Home Colours

Sky blue shirts, white shorts, sky blue socks

Alternative Colours

Black shirts, black shorts, black socks

Chairman

Chris Selwood

Secretary

Phil Lewis ([email protected])

Media Officer

Alan Kirk ([email protected])

Manager

Jim Ervin

Ballymena Showgrounds

© Ballymena United FC

Ballymena Showgrounds

Buy Tickets

You can buy your tickets for Ballymena United home matches here.