Goalscorer speaks of disbelief after saving club with 91st-minute goal

In what must surely rank as one of the most dramatic comebacks in recent Irish League history, Carrick Rangers escaped relegation thanks to an incredibly unlikely turnaround in the dying moments of their crunch game against Ballinamallard, coming back from one-nil down to seize victory.

Meanwhile, Warrenpoint will suffer automatic relegation thanks to a 1-1 draw with Dungannon which puts them bottom of the league, while Ballinamallard will now face Institute in the play-off.

There was unrestrained jubilation at Carrick’s home ground of Taylors Avenue after the host team drew level at 89 minutes, and then surged ahead at the 91st minute thanks to an overhead kick by Miguel Chines (five minutes of extra time in total had been added).

Following the victory, News Letter sister paper the Carrick Times said that Miguel Chines, from Portugal and in his mid-30s, declared: “I’ve never scored a more important goal and I don’t think I ever will. It seems like a dream to me!

“It’s never over until it’s over.”

Manager Gary Haveron said: “We were written off early doors and nobody gave us a hope and maybe rightfully so. We didn’t have much to work with – in fact we had virtually nothing to work with. We’ve ran our race and we’ve been good enough to stay in the Premier League.”

See full match report of Carrick v Ballinamallard here.

See Warrenpoint v Dungannon here.