After asking David Jeffrey ‘what’s the craic’ on his return from the States, Sean Graham is relishing being back in the thick of an Irish Cup run with Ballymena United.
Graham, who spent the second half of last season with the Showgrounds club, returned to the Sky Blue fold in December after a short spell in Baltimore.
And the versatile 21-year-old is eager to make up for lost time with a top-six finish in the league and Irish Cup to target in the second half of the campaign.
“I decided to go to university in America and try it out because it was always in the back of my mind to go there,” said Graham of his recent flirtation with the States.
“Unfortunately it didn’t work out. It wasn’t what I thought it was and I returned home. I wanted to get back into football but I wasn’t sure of my situation at Ballymena.
“I thought my contract had maybe been terminated so I phoned David up to see what the craic was and thankfully I was still contracted to the club.
“David took me in with open arms and I’m really grateful to him for taking me back. I was really happy to be able to return to Ballymena.”
Graham, who spent six months with Larne on loan from Blackpool in 2019, played 17 times for United last season and started in a 3-0 defeat to Linfield in the Irish Cup semi-finals.
The Blues dominated the last-four tie at Mourneview Park in May and went on to beat Larne 2-1 in the showpiece at the same Lurgan venue three days later.
Ahead of Saturday’s last-16 tie with Portstewart at the Showgrounds, Graham said: “We reached the semis last season and unfortunately didn’t perform on the night.
“Take nothing away from Linfield - they were very good and Shayne Lavery and Joel Cooper were unbelievable - but we didn’t really get going.
“We didn’t do ourselves justice and it’s something we want to try and put right this season. It’ll be tough (against Portstewart), but it goes without saying we want to progress.
“Who doesn’t love a cup run? It’s a big incentive to go far in the competition.”
After suffering a demoralising 3-0 defeat to Carrick Rangers in the league 12 days ago, Ballymena responded with a gutsy 2-2 draw with Cliftonville last Friday.
The Reds led through two wonder strikes from Jamie McDonagh only for Leroy Millar and Paul McElroy, from the penalty spot, to level things up in the 88th and 92nd minutes.
“It wasn’t a good performance at Carrick and we’re not proud of it,” said Graham. “We had to regroup and respond and thankfully we did against Cliftonville.
“We showed really good character to come from 2-0 down so late. It’s very rare that something like that happens, but we kept going and got our rewards.”
