Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin and Coleraine counterpart Oran Kearney have both reflected on the longest penalty shootout they have ever been involved in at Ballymena Showgrounds on Tuesday.

Forty-four penalties were taken and the tie eventually ended at 22:50 GMT.

Coleraine’s win saw them progress to the BetMcLean Cup quarter-finals.

“I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve never been involved in anything like it,” said Coleraine manager Kearney.

“It was pretty surreal. To be fair to both teams, there were two or three stages of it where we had a kick to win once or twice, Ballymena had a kick to win it once or twice, and then all of a sudden saves were like buses.

“There were plenty of penalties being scored and then when they missed one, we missed one! It was a strange, crazy night but for us, happy to be in the next round.”

Ballymena defender Scot Whiteside had put the home side in front just before half-time, only for Josh Carson to equalise from the penalty spot in the second half.

Thirty minutes of extra time failed to produce a winner but the game was eventually decided when Ballymena goalkeeper Sam Johnston skewed his spot-kick wide.

The shootout is thought to be the joint-third longest of all time, only trailing a match between Washington and Bedlington, which took 54 penalties before the former came out on top 25-24, and KK Palace and Civics, which required 48 spot-kicks for Palace to take victory 17-16.

“I haven’t been involved in a penalty shootout that has lasted as long. At one stage I thought the council [who own the premises] were going to come and throw us out of the stadium!” said Ervin after the titanic struggle on Warden Street.

“It’s a cruel way to lose a cup game.”

Coleraine have progressed to the past three finals of the competition, beating Crusaders to lift the League Cup trophy in 2020, but then losing to Cliftonville and Linfield in the subsequent 2022 and 2023 deciders.

The cup was not contested in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.