Farewell to the Shield...but hopefully only temporarily!

Don’t worry, it’s not some sort of admission of defeat ahead of Wednesday night’s semi-final at Crusaders.

Instead it was a simple matter of course that the trophy returns to the hands of the County Antrim FA in order to have it ready for the final, regardless of who will compete in it. After 23 years without a trophy, it would be easy for United fans to be unaware of the protocol in circumstances such as this!

But while the departure of the ‘Binlid’ has left the Showgrounds trophy cabinet looking characteristically bare, it may also mark the beginning of a new outlook within the club.

Regardless of how many denials you might hear, winning the Shield has became a comfort blanket for Ballymena - a positive against which to soften the blow of the many negatives which have come since it.

It was something which Liam Beckett - never a man to mince his words - touched upon at last season’s prize night, much to the annoyance of the players.

Don’t get me wrong, winning the Shield was a marvellous night, one which gave a generation of United fans something that they had genuinely never experienced before.

But rather than use it as a building block to go on to bigger and better things, the Shield win has managed to over-ride virtually everything Ballymena have done since.

That attitude hasn’t solely been restricted to the players; I’ve felt the same sense from some people connected to the club and many fans - almost a case of ‘well, we’ve won that long-awaited trophy - what do we do now?’

The Shield has made so many ‘personal appearances’ in the last 11 months, I’m surprised it hasn’t got its own booking agent.

It has taken on an importance far beyond its stature in the eyes of Ballymena fans. While it’s a wonderful piece of silverware, it has to be remembered that it is merely a divisional competition - the fourth most significant of those available to United after the league, Irish Cup and League Cup.

I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s party - I enjoyed that party as much as anyone - but ask yourself this question - if Ballymena go on to retain the trophy, will there be even a fraction of the pomp and ceremony that accompanied the 2012 success?

And yet winning the trophy for a second successive season IS a big deal for Ballymena firstly because it would show hunger and determination from the players to add to their own medal collections and not be ‘one-hit wonders’.

Further down the line, winning trophies - irrespective of which ones - on a semi-regular basis would make Ballymena a much more attractive proposition for potential signings, a club hungry for success rather than the mid-table outfit they are currently viewed as within Irish League circles.

All this talk about football matters somehow seems trivial when placed in the context of the tragedy which has befallen former Ballymena midfielder Garth Scates, with the sad passing of wife Lesley following a road accident.

It has once again shown how the football ‘family’ has come together to support one of its own and once again shows up Bill Shankley’s comment about football being more important than life and death for the nonsense that it is.

Follow Ballymena Times Sports Editor Stephen Alexander on Twitter (@Stephen_Bmena).