National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Larne or Ballymena United that keep their silverware dream alive.
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Larne and Ballymena United.
Larne form and stats
Larne have collected seven points from their first three Premiership games here at Inver Park, a promising start.
The Larne goalkeeper is looking to record 90 more "clean sheet" minutes as his team have now played 385 minutes without conceding a goal in the Premiership.
A good away victory last time out for Larne, who won 2-0 against Newry City AFC.
Before that game, the 2-0 home victory against Coleraine.The match schedule is unforgiving for Larne as they have a new game in only three days, a Premiership match thankfully also at home. Cliftonville are visiting.
The Larne fans have had their share of opportunities to cheer home goals this season, having seen 5 goals in 3 league matches.
Ballymena United form and stats
Ballymena United are doing rather OK so far in their away games in the Premiership, having played 3 games and collected 3 points (1 win, 0 draws and 2 losses).
McDaid (2) scored in Ballymena United's previous match, the home game against Portadown that ended 2-0.
A 0-3 defeat away at Crusaders before that.A quick return to home after this game, as Ballymena are hosting Coleraine in the Premiership only four days away.
The visitors have scored 2 goals from 3 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: five - one - four (Larne wins - draws - Ballymena United wins). As for goals, seven matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), three had two or less.
Top Goalscorers
  P. O'Neill 5 goals | L. Millar 3 goals |  D. McDaid 2 goals |
Larne missing players
Ballymena United missing players
| Larne | Ballymena United | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 10 | Played | P | 14 | 25 | ||
| 16 | 7 | Won | W | 10 | 15 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Drew | D | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Lost | L | 3 | 7 | ||
| 43 | 22 | Scored | S | 24 | 41 | ||
| 14 | 6 | Conceded | C | 16 | 29 | ||
| 80% | 90% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 64% | 80% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 93% | 88% | ||
| 40% | 40% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 71% | 64% | ||
| 16% | 20% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 21% | 24% | ||
| 8% | 10% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 4% | ||
| 24% | 20% | BTTS | BTTS | 57% | 52% | ||
| 68% | 70% | Clean Sheets | C S | 29% | 28% | ||
| 28% | 20% | Failed to Score | F T | 14% | 20% | ||
| 5.2 | 4.9 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 2.5 | 3.6 | ||
| 3.8 | 3.1 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.3 | 5.4 | ||
| 2 | 2.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.2 | 1.5 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 2 | ||
| 10.8 | 13.6 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 6 | 6.5 | ||
| 4.6 | 5.4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 2.8 | 3.3 | ||
| 31% | 30% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 47% | 38% | ||
| 6.6 | 8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 9.5 | 8.1 | ||
| 2.3 | 2.5 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.8 | 3.3 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Larne | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 20 |
| 2 | Glentoran | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 19 |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 19 |
| 4 | Crusaders | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 17 |
| 5 | Coleraine | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
| 6 | Linfield | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 13 |
| 7 | Carrick Rangers | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 13 |
| 8 | Glenavon | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 9 | Ballymena United | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -8 | 7 |
| 10 | Newry City AFC | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 12 | -10 | 6 |
| 11 | Dungannon Swifts | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 15 | -19 | 3 |
| 12 | Portadown | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | -16 | 1 |
