Jim Ervin reveals injuries to key players and the phrase he 'hates' as Ballymena United look to end season on high
Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin has revealed key duo Ben Kennedy and Patrick McEleney have picked up injuries which kept them out of Saturday’s 2-0 Premiership defeat to Glenavon.
Kennedy remains Ballymena’s top scorer this season having netted 13 league goals – a number which is only bettered by Matthew Shevlin (20), Joel Cooper (19) and Joe Gormley (18) – but his involvement has been limited in 2025 due to suspension and injury.
The 28-year-old scored 11 times in his first 12 matches after making a summer move from Crusaders – form which helped the Sky Blues move temporarily top of the table in October.
McEleney’s arrival from Derry City during the winter transfer window was another coup for Ballymena and the 32-year-old has shown his class in the early stages of his Irish League stint, scoring three times in 13 appearances.
Both Kennedy and McEleney were absent from Saturday’s squad while Josh Carson, who was due to be involved, suffered an injury prior to kick-off, forcing Ervin into a late change at Mourneview Park.
Goals from Peter Campbell and teenager Luke McGerrigan condemned Ballymena to defeat, which means they are guaranteed to finish the campaign in ninth.
"We’ve had a number of injuries, I think we have eight out at the minute,” Ervin told the club’s media channel. “Ben has a recurring knee issue, Patrick did his ankle last weekend and they weren’t 100% so we weren’t going to play them.
"Josh Carson got injured just before the game so that was another change we had to make beforehand which didn’t help, but I thought we started the game reasonably well.
"We made a couple of changes during the game to try and give us something different because we weren’t creating enough in the final third and our decision-making was poor.
"Ultimately you’re trying to bring people on to give us something a bit extra and I don’t think we got it.”
Since reaching the summit following an eight-game winning run, Ballymena have mustered just six victories in 25 league matches, picking up only one point more than Carrick and six more than relegated Loughgall in that period.
While Ervin’s men have a confirmed final position, opponents Portadown could still finish seventh and claim the final European play-off spot if they win and Cliftonville are beaten by Loughgall.
Ervin, who recently signed a new full-time contract at The Showgrounds, is determined to round out the campaign on a positive note.
"I hate the phrase ‘nothing to play for’ – there’s a lot to play for,” added Ervin. “We’re playing for Ballymena and you have to take pride in that shirt regardless of who you’re playing against.
"We’ll be doing everything we can to get the three points because it’s important we try and get as many points as possible.
"I’ve said from day one that regardless of who we’re playing, I want to try and get points, get goals and it’s extremely disappointing to lose the (Glenavon) game the way we have done.”