Larne edge Sky Blues to make Irish Cup sixth round

Larne made a bright start to the game with Declan Breen, who was a last minute replacement for Bradley Wade in between the posts for Ballymena, called into action in the opening two minutes to thwart O’Neill’s header.

As the first half progressed, the Inver Reds continued to have the better opportunities with Millar unable to steer home the rebound of Tiarnan O’Connor’s strike which had been palmed away by Breen.

The away side broke the deadlock when Tomas Cosgrove’s cross into the box was headed away by Daithi McCallion, but the rebound fell to Paul O’Neill and the striker steered home.

Just before the break, Rohan Ferguson made a good save to deny Daniel Lafferty’s close-range shot.

Ballymena levelled the game on 56 minutes when thanks to Edogun’s stunning strike but Larne responded and retook the lead when Millar fired Cosgrove’s deflected pass at the back post past the Ballymena stopper.

In the final 10 minutes, Millar’s shot looked like it was going to give Larne a more comfortable advantage, but his effort crashed off the inside of the post.