Irish League manager feels 'horrific' home pitch has 'cost' side amid busy Premiership fixture run
Ballymena United manager Oran Kearney admits their “horrific” Showgrounds pitch is having an impact with previous postponements leaving his side with a packed fixture schedule.
Throughout January and February, five Ballymena home matches were called off after heavy rainfall left the Showgrounds unplayable.
Kearney’s men played five Premiership games in 14 days between travelling to Glentoran on February 14 and hosting leaders Larne on February 28 as they attempted to catch up.
They’ll also host league matches across the next two weekends – Portadown visit on Saturday before Ballymena welcome Carrick Rangers on March 14.
The pitch once again cut up badly during last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Larne and Ballymena have struggled for results at home – only Crusaders (nine) have collected fewer league points at their own stadium so far this term than the Sky Blues (16).
A planning application for a new 3G pitch was recently approved by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council – the owners of the Showgrounds – meaning there could be light at the end of the tunnel for Ballymena in their battle against consistent pitch issues.
"It's horrific,” said Kearney. “It's horrible, and it's even crazy now when it's starting to dry, it'll get worse because it'll dry out and then bobble.
"This side (beside the main stand) of the pitch is really, really particularly soft, and then the other side, parts of it are quite firm.
"It's cost us because we shouldn't have...as a part-time team it's not ideal to have five games in 14 days.
"But we've had that because of the pitch, and it's purely because of the pitch. So it hasn't been ideal, but it is what it is.”
When asked if the pitch is impacting how Kearney wants to play, he added: “You can’t play, it's just like a game of rugby.
"To be fair, we've put in some good performances and we've played some good football at times, but it just makes it...even to look at it, it looks bad, but trust me, you take a walk across it, how we've even been able to play bits and pieces, it's a credit to everybody.”
Former Coleraine chief Kearney was appointed as Jim Ervin’s successor in December, winning two and drawing three of his 12 matches so far.
Alongside a requirement to pick up results in Ballymena’s mission to pull clear of relegation threat – they’re currently only four points above the play-off position – Kearney has also been tasked with reducing the size of the club’s squad.
"I think we started with 34 players, we're down to 26, so we've eased a little bit of that,” he added. “Honestly, we're probably still slightly high in numbers, but we'll probably need everybody because we've little aches and pains and little niggles.
"That'll be enough to get us through to the summer.
"It definitely feels a bit more comfortable for us in terms of bodies now because with 34 players, how do people believe they're ever going to get a game of football? That brings a bit of negativity, so it's important to try and get those numbers down over time as well.”