Lisburn lad fires Glenavon to Irish Cup victory

Six years on from netting the winning penalty for Lisburn Distillery in the Harry Cavan Youth Cup final, he fired in the winner for Glenavon in Saturday’s Irish Cup decider.

It was he they largely had to thank for getting into the showpiece final as well. Mark had blasted in a deflected effort in extra-time to send them ahead against Crusaders in the semi-final and fire them on to a 3-1 win.

It was another Lisburn lad, James Singleton, who set up Patton’s Cup winner against Ballymena on Saturday. Such is the expectation surrounding the former Distillery winger at the minute, as soon as the ball fell to his feet in the 76th minute, the Glenavon fans rose 
to their feet.

And he surely delivered:

“Singo (James Singleton) was brave enough to go in for the header and when it fell to me, I just thought ‘run at them.’ I saw Davy Munster coming towards me so I just pulled it onto my right. Things opened up so I thought I may as well just hit it and see what happens.

“Thankfully, it ended up in the bottom corner.”

Patton is fast becoming a Glenavon hero. He ended their 17 year wait for a Boxing Day derby victory with a last minute winner and has now led them to Irish Cup success for the first time in, 
again, 17 years.

His goal, a 25 yard stroke into the bottom corner, will live long in the memory and was one he himself 
had predicted:

“I was having a laugh with Gary (Hamilton) and Andy McGrory before the match and said that I’d come on and score the winner. I told them I would put it in that bottom right corner at the Kop end at Windsor. It was a bit tongue in cheek but then it happened.”

Glenavon hero Mark Patton came up through the ranks at both Laurelhill Community College and Lisburn Distillery. After leading the Whites’ youth team to their Harry Cavan Cup victory, Patton stepped up to the first-team but injury ended his stay at New Grosvenor.

He said: “A bit like James (Singleton), I was the school captain every year coming up and we had a great team. A lot of the boys still play football. Us three Glenavon lads and the likes of Chris Kingsberry as well have all come through the school.

“Laurelhill has been a good help for me. The school really helped me progress and pushed me on.

“I hurt my back when I was at Distillery. That was about two years ago and things didn’t work out after that. Then they didn’t work out at Portadown as well but hopefully I’ve repaid Gary (Hamilton - Glenavon manager)’s faith in me by scoring a few winners. I can’t really remember anything just after the ball went in on Saturday. I just turned and ran.

“When I moved from Portadown, I never imagined that things would have ended up this way in my first season at Glenavon.

“I enjoyed my time at Portadown and have no bad feelings towards them but I’m glad I left when I did, or else I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to come to Glenavon.”

Lisburn lads Patton, Singleton and former Ballymacash Rangers man Andy McGrory were treated to a day of VIP treatment with the Glenavon team.

“It was a great day from start to finish,” Patton said. “It was a long day because we were up getting ready at 9am, which we’re not used to for a normal match. We had our Cup final suits and everybody was down seeing us off at Mourneview.

“We had a pre-match meal and it was great that the directors and everybody was there.

“It was a brilliant day and hopefully it’s not the last one. I’ll certainly be looking to get back to the final again next year because everyone enjoyed it so much.”

Patton’s three historic winners, against Portadown on Boxing Day, in the Cup semi-final and the final all arrived after he came off the bench but he’s not content with being a super-sub.

“Not really but I’ve been coming on and scoring so you just have to take the tag,” he said.

“Fortunately, I’ve scored a few goals that have made the difference for the team.

“To score the winner in the semi-final and then repeat it in the final on Saturday was great. I’ve had no better feeling that that in football.”