QUEEN’S ARE GOING UP

Queen's University withstood a determined Ballyclare Comrades fightback at Dixon Park to clinch promotion to the Playr-Fit Championship with a 3-2 aggregate victory despite losing by two goals on the night.

Ballyclare trailed heavily after the first leg on Tuesday evening but got the early goal they needed when, after just seven minutes, Keevan Hawthorne sent a speculative effort past keeper Neil Shields following good build up play from Matthew Gorman and Brandon Doyle.

The visitors might have levelled midway through the first half only for Matthew Hughes to be denied by a brilliant save from Lewis Deane.

The Comrades had the ball in the net again on the stroke of half-time when Gary Warwick scored from a Doyle flick on but the 'goal' was subsequently ruled out by the officials.

Ballyclare did double their lead ten minutes after the break, however, when the ball broke for Doyle in the box and he wasted no time in burying it.

But the Students held on for the remainder of the game to hold on to their by now slender aggregate lead to secure promotion back to the Championship for the first time since 2022.

Ballyclare Comrades: Deane, McCune, Leetch, Johnston, McMurtry, Warwick, Gorman, Hawthorne, Doyle, Foster, Adair subs Ritchie, Burns, Tennant, Riley, Withers, Davidson, Clarke

Queen's University: Shields, McKenna, Young, Mairs, Smyth, Keenan, Sheridan, Mulgrew, Hughes, Clarke, Withers subs Donnelly, O'Hare, Barfoot, Murphy, Smith, Ovens, Middleton