Ballymena's David Jeffrey aiming to tip the scales of small margins in Irish Cup

The late drama of defeat in last season’s Irish Cup final – when Ballymena conceded decisive goals to Crusaders in the closing seconds of both normal and extra-time – may stand as the most high-profile example of the lows sport can deliver.

However, Jeffrey will also point to an 11-game run of results without victory in this season’s Premiership league programme as evidence of big blows off small margins.

The next opportunity to redress that balance arrives tonight at Seaview when Ballymena stand one step away from a return to the Irish Cup showpiece stage – with Jeffrey urging his players to draw positives from the negatives of those past setbacks in search of future glory.

With Jeffrey adamant results have not reflected performance levels across the league sequence, he wants his players to “once again put on the armour of resilience” but instead tip the scales and secure the rewards the Ballymena boss feels they deserve.

"When I look back over our run of league games without a win, I actually take heart from the fact that many other groups of players would've thrown in the towel by now,” said Jeffrey. "We continue to be resilient without results showing that or the level of our performances...so I will ask my players for this semi-final to once again put on the armour of resilience.

"It is quite right that in football a lot of the times you get what you deserve.

"But it is also quite right that you do not - I only need to point to last year's Irish Cup final when Crusaders had the quality to turn defeat into victory but we feel we didn't get what we deserved.

"So, Friday night's tie is an opportunity for victory and what I would view as a deserved reward for the resilience of my players.

"A place in the Irish Cup final is a wonderful reward and this opportunity is one certainly hard-earned across the ties to date.”

The theme of small margins is also a factor off the field as part-time Ballymena seek an edge over full-time Larne.

"We're coming up against an in-form team very deservedly sitting top of the league...immense credit goes to Tiernan Lynch,” said Jeffrey. "I'm not playing mind games when I say we go into the semi-final as underdogs and that it is a mammoth task.

"My praise for Tiernan's work and Larne's progress is sincere and genuine.

"So, we know in this game we must be at our very, very, very best and enjoy a good slice of fortune.

"Once we heard on Saturday the league game with Glenavon was postponed our minds immediately turned to planning out another training opportunity.

"We can never replicate a full-time environment – I'm in no way complaining about the differences – but we work hard on making the most of every situation available to us so last Saturday’s postponement ultimately allowed us to get in an extra training session.

“This has been a challenging season but even within that adversity we have another Irish Cup semi-final to look forward to playing.”