McGrath's boys lay down the 'Law

Editorial Department • Published 11 Feb 2010 09:18 0 Comments

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Lisbellaw's Matthew McFrederick gets a header in at goal during the Junior Cup clash against Tullygally.<<

Lisbellaw Utd 2; Tullygally Utd 1;

Lisbellaw secured their place in the last eight of the Coca Cola Junior Cup on Saturday with a fine 2-1 victory over a highly rated Tullygally United.

First half goals from Paul McGrath and Niall Leonard put Lisbellaw in the driving seat at Drumad, and although the visitors pulled a goal back in the second half James McGrath's outfit managed to hold out to seal their spot in the quarter-finals.

"I have to say that I am very happy with the result and it was a very good team performance against a quality side," said McGrath. "We matched them in the first half and although they had a lot of the ball and played some very good football after half time they never really threatened us in the final third of the pitch."

Lisbellaw are chasing glory on three fronts with McGrath's side in a strong position at the top of the league with the Mulhern Cup also to come. With regards the Junior Cup though the manager states that there is a lot of quality sides left and all he wants in the next round is a home draw.

"It doesn't matter who you get at this stage because whoever you get it is going to be a very tough game. I suppose what you would want from it would be to get a home draw in the quarter-finals," he commented.

Lisbellaw began Saturday's game in a lively fashion as they forced the visitors into conceding a couple of early corners although Tullygally did show at times that they were a slick footballing side moving the ball confidently from defence to attack.

Matthew McFrederick should have opened the scoring for Lisbellaw but his header went over the top when he was well positioned.

It was the 'Law though who were to snatch the advantage as they took the lead in the 25th minute.

Alan Veitch controlled the ball out wide and played it on to Paul McGrath who from the right hand side of the box fired a sweetly struck effort across the goalkeeper to the back of the net.

And five minutes later they doubled their money with Leonard this time getting on the scoresheet. The left back got on the end of Andy Reilly's free kick to head it home as Lisbellaw took control of the contest.

Tullygally began to take the game to the home side after the break although for the best part the Lisbellaw defence, in which Paul Elliott excelled at right back, stood firm.

However, with 25 minutes to play Glenn McCleery was adjudged to have upended a Tullygally striker in the box and the resultant penalty was tucked past goalkeeper James McGrath for 2-1.

Lisbellaw had the perfect opportunity to restore their two goal advantage shortly after when they were awarded a penalty of their own following a handball but Reilly's effort smacked of the angle of the bar and post before being cleared to safety.

With the away side pressing hard Lisbellaw did show some signs of panic in their play but they managed to hold off their opponents to the finish to book their place in the quarter-final of junior football's blue riband competition.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 11 Feb 10

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