Coleman breaks Linfield hearts again

And it was the Lurgan Blues’ goalkeeper Andy Coleman who proved to be his team’s hero with a stunning performance in the nail biting climax.

The team had finished goalless after extra time, and that proved to be the moment for Coleman as he stepped into the spotlight, saving three times from the spot to send David Jeffrey’s boys out of the tournament.

It’s getting to be a bit of a habit for Coleman. This is the second successive year the keeper has broken Linfield hearts in this tournament.

He also emerged a hero for his last team when Newry City dumped the Blues 12 months ago at the Showgrounds.

This time he performed heroics to deny Rory Patterson, Robert Garrett and Damien Curran.

Mark Turkington also emerged with honours. He scored his first ever goal for Marty Quinn’s team – and it was his decisive spot kick that booked a place in the quarter final draw.

Jay Magee, Brendan Shannon, Conor Hagan, Niall Henderson and Chris Lavery all converted from the spot to progess 6-5.

All in all it was a night to forget for David Jeffrey’s shot shy side.

The Blues dominated the game for long periods but eventually ran out of ideas against a well-drilled Glenavon outfit.

Patterson, Mark McAllister and Aaron Burns all missed gilt-edged scoring opportunities.

Linfield are now looking forward to the Big Two clash on Monday night.

Glentoran set themselves up nicely for the tie with a 2-1 Irn-Bru win on Wednesday night against Portadown.

Goals from Colin Nixon and Gary Hamilton saw Scott Young’s men through.

But the tie was marred by a firework being thrown at the Glentoran bench.

The Glens’ goalkeeping coach David McClelland required hospital treatment after the incident. Both McClelland and the Oval assistant boss Pete Batey received medical attention from paramedics.

McClelland was able to walk off at half time, but was later taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital as a precaution.

The match was again held up for some time in the second half when another firework was thrown at the same area.

This led to a public PSNI announcement that the game would be called off if there was a repeat. The rest of the game passed without incident.