The heavy rain and wind that I encountered, as I drove down to Banbridge, from Belfast, was not a good omen for conditions at Saturday’s games. However, as I arrived at Havelock Park, it was gloomy, grey, and overcast, but the threatened rain did not appear. I took in the 1st half of the Banbridge Academy II versus Royal Belfast Academical Institution II Prior Shield semi-final.

Banbridge controlled midfield in a scoreless 1st quarter, though rarely able to find a killer pass to their forwards to create chances. Chances from those passes that did get through were dealt with by a sound Inst defence.