Ballyclare relishing chance to host 'big gunners' Dungannon in Senior Cup clash

Mike Orchin-McKeever’s side won the Ulster Premiership Division 2 league title and have the added reward of going into the Senior Cup for the first time in the club’s history.

Ballyclare welcome 10-time Senior Cup winners Dungannon to The Cloughan on Saturday afternoon with the winners set to travel away to Banbridge in the last four.

In what has been a season of firsts for Orchin-McKeever and the club, he was delighted to have clinched silverware so soon after promotion.

“I think it is pretty cool for a wee small club like Ballyclare who have always been junior and just moved into the senior ranks, and picked up a senior title,” said Orchin-McKeever.

“It is a great achievement to do it in their first attempt albeit in a competition that a lot of coaches and clubs will look at as pre-season and squad rotation matches. To a certain extent we did that ourselves but we put a bit of pressure on ourselves to find out what the quality of the opposition was like for us as a senior club and were delighted to win it.”

The league contained a former All Ireland League winner in Ballymena and a beaten finalist in Belfast Harlequins.

Orchin-McKeever added: “You can look at clubs’ history and where they are now and you just deal in the moment of what clubs are doing, and what their challenges are.

“If you look back at historical value it is absolutely huge to take on clubs like Belfast Harlequins and Ballymena, and current strong developing clubs like Clogher Valley who are on a really strong roll also, and take nothing away from Omagh; being Ballyclare’s first season as a senior club it is brilliant to mix it with them.”

After winning four of the last six Towns Cups, a Junior Cup and the All Ireland Junior Cup and Qualifying One league title, Ballyclare are happy to keep bringing trophies back to the Co Antrim town as a senior club.

“Winning and losing is definitely a habit and I have been involved in teams as a player where you couldn’t get a win to save your life, and sometimes you could do anything but win,” said Orchin-McKeever.

“Having a winning mentality behind us has assisted us but learning to play in more regularly competitive matches is a learning experience that we are going through.

“Form an All Ireland League point of view we don’t have much experience in terms of our players so learning to play new teams is exciting for us.”

Orchin-McKeever won the Senior Cup as a player with Belfast Harlequins in 2006 and is relishing his first opportunity to coach in the competition with Ballyclare against Dungannon.

“They are now going to host a Senior Cup quarter-final, first time playing in the competition, and I’m pretty sure it is the first time playing Dungannon at first XV level,” he said.

“It really is the small country team taking on the big gunners and we are really excited to host them.

“Dungannon are sitting second in 2B. Tey have a lot of momentum, they have got good coaching, their players have got stronger over the last few seasons, so I don’t think we can hope for a lazy Christmas to catch them cold.

“They will be using this as a game to prepare for their three AIL games on the bounce as will we.

“Different competitions give you different focus. Regarding the AIL we have hit the halfway mark, and we have been the fresh opposition for other teams.

“It is a process of learning to win tougher games consistently in the AIL.

“Off the field for the club it is really exciting to be hosting Dungannon. For so many reasons it is going to be a great occasion for the club, it is just a chance for us to play the underdog which we have been used to for years and hopefully make the most of it.”