Elks see off Lisnagarvey in Irish Senior Cup

Louise Wright of Ulster Elks composes herself before scoring against Lisnagarvey. INLT 49-909-CON Photo: Philip McCloy

The Elks were on the back foot when ‘Garvey took an early lead, but goals from Louise Wright, Laura McAlpine, Dawn Axon and Kirstie Lammey made sure their name was in the hat for the next stage of the competition.

The Elks made a poor start with an unforced error giving away a free hit just outside the circle. Garvey’s Laura Johnston was found unmarked in the area and she buried the ball high into the net to put her side one up after just four minutes.

The visitors’ lead didn’t last long as Steph Jameson drove into the circle on the right and produced a telling cross in front of goal which Wright got on the end of to draw her side level.

Lisnagarvey keeper Caroline Reid made a good save from a well-hit penalty-corner but was beaten for the second time on 24 minutes when another penalty-corner was deflected beyond her reach by McAlpine, giving the students a 2-1 lead.

The second-half started pretty much as the first had ended with the Newtownabbey side in the ascendancy.

And it wasn’t long until they extended their lead when good work in midfield by Gemma Frazer found Axon on the right-hand edge of the circle. She cut inside onto her reverse stick and her high shot could only be watched by Reid as it nestled into the top corner.

With around 15 minutes remaining Elks captain Kirstie Lammey made it 4-1 when her strike found the bottom corner.

The Irish Senior Cup draw for the last eight was made on Saturday evening and the Elks have another home tie against fellow Ulster side, Lurgan.

Coach Ricky Lee commented: “There are no easy games when you reach this stage of the competition, but avoiding the likes of UCD or Railway Union is perhaps a good thing. Unfortunately, however, the tie does mean that at least one Ulster team will not progress.”

The Irish Senior Cup fixture with Lurgan is pencilled in for February 1 and now the Elks their attention back to the Premier League when they host current champions Pegasus at Jordanstown (1pm).

Coach Lee added: “We didn’t play particularly well today, and we know that in order to get points from the Pegasus game we will need to perform much better.”

See this week’s Newtownabbey Times for more photos from Ulster Elks’ win over Lisnagarvey.