'Horrific' pitch 'needs sorted' - Ballymena boss Kearney
· Yahoo Sports
Ballymena United manager Oran Kearney has said that the condition of the pitch at the Showgrounds is "the biggest thing that is impinging the football club at present" after watching his side draw 1-1 with Portadown in the Irish Premiership on Saturday.
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Several of the club's fixtures this season have been postponed because the playing surface has been deemed unplayable and the team have managed only four wins from 15 home league games during the 2025-26 campaign to date.
The Sky Blues have won just two fixtures out of eight played at their home ground in all competitions since Kearney assumed charge following the departure of former boss Jim Ervin in late November.
"We need this pitch sorted, simple as that," said Kearney, whose side sit 10th in the top-flight table.
"It's the biggest thing that is impinging this football club at present. The few signings that I have made are players that will allow us to play in a certain way and allow us hopefully to move the club forward in a certain way.
"The way that we train through the week on a 3G pitch is so different - through the week we practice A,B,C and D and then we come out here on a Saturday and have to play like E and it's really tough, it's impossible, it's tough on the players.
"It's tough on the fans too to watch it and it's frustrating as well, and it needs sorted, simple as that."
'A constant fight for the players'
Kearney outlined further reasons why the pitch at the Warden Street venue is impacting adversely on his players.
"It's very hard to get a level of confidence and it looks bad from the side but trust me if you're on it it's horrific.
"It's very, very hard, there are a serious amount of bobbles in it, there's a serious amount of unevenness. There are areas that are firm and there are areas that are really, really soft.
"It's a constant fight for the players in relation to 'can I go in and get this ball in an area here with a level of safety'.
"Would they do it on a 3G pitch? No problem, because they don't have to look down. They're already looking up because there is no issue with the bobble or no issue with that, and for me that's the biggest thing that's holding us back at the minute.
"We're having to go out on a Saturday and try and find ways to try and compete and win a game of football compared to how ideally we would like to try and play."
The Ballymena manager added that the encounter with Niall Currie's side was "not one for the purists" but praised his side for finding an equaliser in stoppage time after their opponents had taken the lead through an 83rd-minute Eamon Fyfe penalty.
"I'm not sure it's one we deserved to lose but we probably didn't do enough to win either," he reflected.
"I think it's a questionable penalty but we showed a good deal of character to get out of it and get a late goal.
"It was a tough game, a game of few chances, and to be fair to Jack [O'Reilly] he pounced on a mistake and it's a great finish from him."