Captain Josh Kelly bringing positives from past pain to the Ballymena panel

Kelly's 2021/22 diary was dominated by early injury anguish and late Irish Cup final pain - a run of mental and physical challenges from which the 23-year-old is determined to draw positives.

Helping Kelly move forward has been promotion to the role of Ballymena skipper, a first to celebrate compared to the unique setbacks of last season.

"I've never been captain of a side since I was probably 14 or 15 years old but when manager David Jeffrey gave me the vice-captain's role last season I was prepared for it coming," he said. "It was a shock at only 22 to be given that vice-captain responsibility within a squad of so many well-established players...I'm not the most vocal but just try to set the right examples on and off the pitch.

"I don't see it as anything that takes away from my game but I do think more about the overall squad, simply things like passing on information from staff into the players' WhatsApp group chat or going above how I would have in the past when it comes to helping new players settle in.

"David is renowned for having good relationships with his players inside and outside of football so that's always been the case with or without the armband and I certainly would not expect any special treatment as skipper but instead embrace the added responsibility.

"It's a massive privilege to be honest when you think of past captains at Ballymena like Leroy Millar and Jim Ervin."

Kelly feels the responsibility to look beyond individual pain towards the need for the collective helped him deal with the demoralising injury issues and final blow.

"Having that extra responsibility as vice-captain was helpful last season when I missed so much football due to injury....I grabbed every opportunity to get back around the squad for training nights and games just to interact with the group, so being vice-captain was an extra part of it all," he said. "I've never had a serious injury in all my time playing football so that was an experience different to anything else from my past.

"Then to lose the Irish Cup final to Crusaders in extra-time after sitting basically seconds away from a win was another unbelievable situation last season.

"The Irish Cup semi-final had been my second game back in the side after picking up the injury in the second game of the Premiership season....so to go from the injury setback to the euphoria of coming back and reaching the final to losing out was such a sucker-punch and still so very raw within the squad.

"We still mention it now as it was not only about bringing the Irish Cup trophy back to the club but also the financial rewards of Europe and everything else.

"But David is brilliant at reminding us to bottle those feelings then use it in a positive way.

"The chance to rewrite the wrongs is the only way to treat those kinds of blows and being so close to achieving what you wanted only to miss out should only make us all even more hungry for this season."