Garvey through to Irish Senior Cup quarter final

Lisnagarvey only progressed to the quarter final stage of the Irish Senior Cup after a very tight game against a youthful, strong and talented University College Dublin at Comber Road last Saturday.

They won by 2 goals to 1 but after a controlled first half, which brought the two vital goals, they were under some pressure from their opponents but held on to take their place against Glennane in the last eight of the competition.

With Andy Williamson and Jason Lynch back in the squad but still missing the injured James Lorimer, Garvey began well imposing themselves on the students with Richard Arneill showing well in mid field. The pressure led to two good efforts by Timmy Cockram and Jason Lynch in the 12th and 14th minutes but keeper Quinn was equal to the shots.

Following a very good spell of attacking and a possible penalty corner which was not awarded, Garvey opened their scoring account in the 15th minute. Jason Lynch won the first penalty corner and the Timmy Cockram shot was deflected into the net by the ever alert Andy Williamson.

Johnny Quigley was constantly causing UCD headaches down the right flank and in the 22nd minute he took his team to a two goal advantage. He bored his way through and scored from close range and at that point Garvey looked as if they had the game well under control.

They forced some more panic in the Dublin defence as the first half came to an end but a number of free hits and long corners were all they could muster before the interval with the two goal cushion.

It was obvious that the visitors were not going to go out of the cup without a determined effort and they immediately threatened the Garvey defence with some calculated attacks one on which saw a vicious shot sail over the Garvey cross bar in the 45th minute.

Another raid saw Daniel Buser at his best as cleaned up danger in the Garvey circle in the 50th minute and a minute later Garvey keeper John Tormey made a good block from a very well struck reverse shot by Shane Donoghue as the home side had to be at their best in defence to repel the student pressure.

The UCD team were not holding back in their efforts being physically strong and determined and their positive tactics did not allow Garvey the space and time to play which they had in the first 35 minutes. They also created some very good chances of their own and keeper Tormey had to be aware of the threat at all times.

At the other end James Dowling broke through the UCD defence but his cross was much too hard for a Garvey player to contact and in the course of the attack he unfortunately had to leave the pitch with a hamstring problem.

Two of the students had already received yellow cards with over physical tackles and while they had ten men on the pitch Sean Murray had a great chance to score after a fine dribble by Timmy Cockram in the 56th minute.

UCD were pushing well up field in quest of the much needed goal and with Garvey unable to take advantage of the space left a goal was likely and in the 66th minute Luke Chadwick managed to force the ball over the goal line after a scramble in the Garvey circle insuring that the last five minutes would be far from plain sailing for Garvey.

Garvey skipper Jonny Bell brought off a superb tackle in the 68th minute when an equalising goal looked possible and after another scramble in the Garvey defence the final whistle sounded to the relief of both players and spectators.

Garvey had done enough to win this tense encounter with their two goal first half performance but they will be tested again to the full when they meet old Irish Cup rivals Glenanne in the quarter final at Comber Road on February 2nd. A big plus for the squad was the return of Jason Lynch; he certainly stamped his class on this match and with James Lorimer hopefully fit again, Garvey’s team will be at full strength.