There are few central defensive partnerships in the Championship with as much experience as the current pairing at Ballinamallard.
The return of Mark Stafford to the County Fermanagh club in January understandably grabbed the headlines as arguably the most eye-catching arrival in the second tier.
Yet the former Linfield stalwart has formed an impressive central defensive partnership with the left-sided Dean Curry, who captained Institute in the Premiership.
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Curry has raved about the impact of Stafford’s arrival at Ferney Park and how he has instantly established himself as a leader in the dressing room: “Mark has been there and done it – his arrival has been huge.
“Everything he says you take it on board because he was at the top level of football in this country for so long and excelled.
“On Saturday, he was carrying a knock ahead of the game but he turned up and made himself available for selection to play through that and to help the team.
“He talks to everyone the whole way through the game and guides us, which is really important for any team but especially for us as we have so many young players.
“He is great in the changing room too – he settled in right away and he is a leader.”
Harry McConkey’s side recovered from back-to-back defeats to record a hard-fought but nervy 4-2 victory at 10-man Knockbreda on Saturday to return to the Championship’s top three.
Curry insisted that the side had a lot more work still to do if they were to secure a promotion playoff spot this season and is not optimistic that league-leading Newry City can be caught.
“Newry are big favourites without a doubt – they play well most weeks and even when they don’t, they are capable of getting a result,” the 28-year-old added.
“We just have to concentrate game by game and to pick up as many points as possible because every result matters at this stage of the season.
“Newry are way out in front but alongside us there are Annagh, Loughgall and the Welders who are all challenging for those playoff places.
“Those are the teams who will likely have a chance of promotion going into the final few games of the season.
“Everything is so tight at the moment and each week you move up or down in the standings – that could be the case until the end of the season.
“The last couple of weeks had not been good enough and we needed a response to that.
“Saturday was not pretty at all but at this stage of the season it is all about getting three points.
“Fair play to Knockbreda because they really took it to us during the second half, they were down to ten men and they had a big chance to make it 3-3, but we went up the other end to add a fourth.”
Curry spent six years at Institute prior to his switch to the Mallards in 2020 but he insists the Fermanagh side have everything in place to return to the Premiership – where they spent six seasons between 2012 and 2018.
“Ballinamallard are a Premiership club – everything here is in place for that,” insisted Curry.
“The entire infrastructure of the club from the facilities, the stadium, the pitch, the training ground and all the volunteers behind the scenes.
“It is such a well-run club and it is up to us as players to replicate that with the results on the pitch but I have no doubt that we will be back in the top flight before long and hopefully that is this year.”
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