By 
BALLINAMALLARD United supporters will have their fingers crossed that a new proposal being discussed by the 12 clubs in the Danske Bank Premiership will come to fruition and ultimately lead to Harry McConkey’s team being promoted along with Portadown.
Less than a fortnight ago the Mallards hopes looked dead in the water after NIFL decided to end the Bluefin Sport Championship with immediate effect. Final positions were to be decided by using a mathematical curtailment model with the team finishing top – likely to be Portadown – being promoted with the option of a play-off for the second placed team, Ballinamallard, being ruled out.
However after days of wrangling by Premiership clubs and a rejection of initial proposals by NIFL, the decision by UEFA on Wednesday that they would not be pushing back the dates for European qualifiers meant there wouldn’t be sufficent time to conclude the season on the field.
That meant the IFA couldn’t grant a further extension to the season and forced clubs into a rethink.
There had been ongoing discussions about sharing the European pot, thought to be in the region of £1million, and following a meeting of clubs on Thursday night it appears there is now another new proposal included in the discussions which would see no relegation across the board with two clubs promoted from the both Championship and the Premier Intermediate League.
Further discussions are set to take place over the coming days and if agreement is reached on that particular proposal and it was ratified by the NIFL Board which is due to meet on Monday evening, then a return to the Premiership for the Mallards could potentially be on the cards.