Football: Dowie hat-trick puts Moyola Park through

Coleraine 2 Moyola Park 4 -Moyola Park travelled to the Showgrounds to play Coleraine in the quarter-final on the North West Senior Cup.
Chris Dowie of Moyola Park was in a better mood last week as he scored a hat-trick!Chris Dowie of Moyola Park was in a better mood last week as he scored a hat-trick!
Chris Dowie of Moyola Park was in a better mood last week as he scored a hat-trick!

Much of the pre-match talk was whether it would be the first ream, reserve team or a mixture of both that Oran Kearney would decide to field.

It was in fact former Moyola player Johnny Law who was in the home dugout taking charge of his reserve side who defeated Moyola in the Craig Memorial Cup Final last season.

The first chance in the game fell to Gallagher in the 5th minute; however he fired his shot straightat Findlay in the home goal.

Moyola’s prolific Chris Dowie opened the scoring in the 10th minute when he latched on to a fortunate ricochet and eased his shot past Findlay in the home net.

In the 17th minute a foul by McAllister on Dysart just inside the area saw the referee point to the spot and Lyndon Kane calmly slotted the ball past Farniok.

Five minutes later a long throw from Stewart on the left found the unmarked Dowie who guided his half-volley past Findlay into the corner of the net from 15 yards.

With half an hour gone in the game, the visitors extended their lead when a corner by Walsh on the left found the unmarked Gallagher who headed the ball in off the crossbar.

In the 34th minute Lyons for the home side fired a shot wide of Farniok’s goal and this was the last note of a chance in the first half.

The start of the second half saw very few chances and it wasn’t to the 60th minute when a run from Lyons on the left saw the ball fired across the visitor’s goal but no team mates had a run into the area.

In the 65th minute a corner from Logue found the unmarked Stewart however he didn’t connect with the ball enough and his header was easily cleared.

A minute later a shot from Barton was blocked by Moyola captain McQuillan. In the 72nd minute Dowie saw his shot hit the post and rebound to a Coleraine player who cleared the danger.

However, in the 75th minute the same player capitalised on a back pass and rounded Findlay to score his third and his second hat trick in successive games.

Dowie could have added a fourth a minute later, however, his just went past the post. With the game into the last ten minutes Barton for the home side saw his shot saved by Farniok and with 5 minutes left Lyons was fouled by Walls and Kane stepped up to score his second penalty.

With the game in injury time a great move involving Walls, Deane, Gallagher saw Waddell head over.

This was a great performance from the visitor’s which sees them progress into the semi final.

Coleraine: Findlay, Kane, Hassan, Stewart (c) (Taylor 78), Grissam, Lindsay, Surgenor, Barton (Black 71), Logue, Dysart, Lyons. Unused subs: McGonigle, Gawn, Wright.

Moyola: Farniok, McAllister, Stewart, McQuillan (c), Kelly, Walsh (D Paul 67), Lucas, Gallagher, Dowie (Deane 80), Waddell, J Paul (Walls 70). Unused Subs: Curtis, Kenning.