Strule United 3 Lisbellaw United 4 (aet)

Lisbellaw United sealed their place in the semi-final of the Mulhern Cup as a couple of late goals from Stuart Cochrane helped the Drumad based outfit see off Strule United on Saturday.
Strule looked to have a foot in the last four of the competition as they led 3-2 with the 90 minutes up but with 92 minutes on the clock Cochrane headed home to send the game into extra time.
And then in the final action of extra time Cochrane forced the ball home following a goal mouth scramble to set up a semi-final showdown against Tummery Athletic.
This was a re-run of last week’s game that saw ‘Law player manager Kyle McCleery suffer an awful leg break which led to the contest being abandoned.
Jimmy McGrath helped take charge of the Lisbellaw team on Saturday and he was just pleased to get through to the last four.
“We are just delighted to get through to the semi-finals although I would say that Strule would be sick as we scored right at the end of normal time to force extra time and then we scored with the last kick in extra time to snatch the win.
“I thought that the boys battled really hard and I’m sure it would have been an entertaining game for the neutral,” he added.
It was the away side who struck first as they took the lead after 12 minutes through Paul McGrath.
Ryan O’Keefe’s initial shot broke into the path of McGrath who buried a left foot drive into the back of the net.
Indeed, McGrath was close to making it 2-0 as he got on the end of a Ryan Lindsay long throw to flick it on with his head but this effort came back off the post.
With 25 minutes played though the home side got back on level terms as Kyle McCrory got his head to a long throw to nod past Willie McFrederick in the Lisbellaw goals.
And it got even better for Strule soon after as Daniel Parkinson nipped into to take the ball after Lisbellaw failed to clear and he produced a crisp finish to make it 2-1 at half time.
Lisbellaw hit back to equalise early in the second half as a neat one-two between McGrath and O’Keefe resulted in O’Keefe swinging in a first time cross from the left which was turned home from six yards by Andy Little.
However, the home side were to regain the initiative as McCrory grabbed his second of the day as he again headed home from a long throw.
And it looked as if that would be enough to send Strule into the last four but with the game deep in injury time Cochrane rose to power home a header from a Lewis Vance cross to send the game into extra time.
Lisbellaw enjoyed the majority of possession in the extra periods but they failed to carve out anything clear cut.
But with the dreaded penalty shoot out looming Lisbellaw were to snatch the victory right at the death as a goal-mouth scramble was slotted home by Cochrane to leave it 4-3 at the final whistle.