It was maybe more tense than it should have been, but Lisbellaw United secured their place in the Coca-Cola Junior Cup final with a 3-2 victory over Windmill Stars at Lakeview Park, Loughgall on Tuesday night.

Goals from Darren Rodgers and Paul McGrath had the ‘Law in control at half time and when they increased that through an own goal with 18 minutes to go, it appeared they were sailing through to a meeting against Harryville Homers.

However, they were to endure a jittery conclusion to the contest when Patrick Quinn pulled a goal back for the Newry outfit with nine minutes remaining before Joe McLaughlin made it 3-2, three minutes into six added on minutes.

And Lisbellaw rode their luck at the death as Stars striker Josh McKeown clipped the post with virtually the last kick of the game as James McGrath’s outfit hung on for the victory.

Although they were forced to hold on, it was a deserved victory for Lisbellaw with the Fermanagh side producing a fine all round team performance.

Stuart Cochrane and Raymond Carroll were resolute at the back while in front of them Kyle McCleery was the driving force with an all action display in the middle of the park and Davy Little’s delivery also giving the Newry side plenty of difficulties. And in attack Paul McGrath showed plenty of guile while Alan Veitch ran himself into the ground for the cause as they made it through to the final.

The Drumad based side though nearly got off to a disastrous start to the contest when with only 45 seconds on the clock goalkeeper Willie McFrederick had to make a superb reaction save to push away a Conor Shields header.

Windmill Stars were the faster to settle and a good ball from Joe McLaughlin sent Ryan Devlin through on the right hand side but he fired wide of McFrederick’s goal.

Lisbellaw though soon began to find their feet and they thought they had taken the lead after nine minutes when McGrath crashed a shot to the roof of the net only for it to be ruled out for handball.

For the remainder of the half though Lisbellaw held the upperhand with McGrath shooting wide and Davy Little firing a free kick over the bar.

At the other end, Devlin again got free on the right but on this occasion he was denied by McFrederick.

With 35 minutes played, however, Lisbellaw were to grab the lead. Little’s corner from the right was met by Rodgers who steered a header into the corner of Paddy Hearty’s goal for 1-0.

And it got even better for Lisbellaw on the stroke of half time as they doubled their advantage. Little clipped a superb ball from the left over the top of defence for McGrath who stretched out to take the ball down before placing a shot beyond Hearty into the corner to give Lisbellaw a two goal lead at the break.

The ‘Law continued to have the better of the exchanges in the second half with Little striking a right footed effort over the bar while he then fired an inviting ball across the face of the goal but nobody was on hand to turn it in.

Lisbellaw continued to press and McGrath teed up Matthew McFrederick on the right who forced a corner. Little’s delivery was again right on the money as McFrederick got up to head but this was cleared off the line.

With the pressure mounting, Hearty had to save from Alan Veitch before the third arrived in the 72nd minute. McGrath had an effort clawed away by a combination of Hearty and the post but it fell to McFrederick whose ball across the face of goal was turned into his own net by Ruairi Cunningham. At this stage it looked like job done, but with nothing to lose Windmill Stars threw caution to the wind and as Lisbellaw began to tire, the Newry side started to get a bit more joy. Quinn had a cross that was met by Josh McKeown which required a goalline clearance from Niall Leonard while McKeown then had a glancing header that was saved down low by McFrederick.

With 81 minutes gone though Stars did pull a goal back as Quinn drilled a low shot past McFrederick and when Joe McLaughlin followed up with a second three minutes into added on time it had Lisbellaw creaking. Indeed, the Newry side were within a whisker of taking the game to extra time but McKeown’s shot hit the post and there was much relief when referee Joshua Porter blew the final whistle to send Lisbellaw through to a first Junior Cup final since 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumdSM0fVqQ&list=UU2P4-IPvlRopT9YTHR0DvEQ