Garvey on brink of title thanks to 50 goal Cockram

The five goal margin settles the goal difference tally they required over Banbridge and now all they need is a win at Raphoe on Tuesday 25 March to claim the Ulster Premier League title.

To cap it all off, the on fire Timmy Cockram netted his 50th, 51st and 52ndgoals of the season, a truly fantastic tally.

On a rapidly frosting pitch, it took Garvey 18 minutes to break the deadlock. After two failed Timmy Cockram penalty corner attempts, Daniel Buser set them on their way with a wonder reverse stick strike from wide on the left of the circle. Seven minutes later, a great run by Johnny Quigley down his favourite right channel gave Timmy Cockram the room to swivel and smash the ball past Kilkeel keeper Sam Morris on his reverse side for goal number two.

Garvey were permanently on the attack at this stage and their pressure was rewarded in the 31st minute when Cockram slotted a fierce penalty corner drag-flick and his team were in a very comfortable position at the half-time interval, leading 3-0. The third goal gave Cockram the staggering figure of 50 goals for the season.

Even with continued pressure, Garvey managed to gift Kilkeel their first goal in the 48th minute when Russell scored after some defensive confusion in the Garvey rear guard.

Timmy Cockram added to his massive tally with goal number four, again from a penalty corner in the 58th minute and repeated the dose four minutes later to complete his hat-trick and put his team in the desired position with the goal difference problem settled.

However, Kilkeel, not known for giving in, replied almost immediately with a second goal to take the score to 5-2 but they had hardly celebrated when Jason Lynch scored Garvey’s sixth goal flew past their goalkeeper. It came via another fierce reverse stick shot from the left to restore the four goal lead.

Daniel Buser and Greg Thompson added two further goals in the last ten minutes to stretch the lead to 8-2 but not to be denied, Kilkeel scored their third goal following a last minute penalty corner to reduce the final score line to 8-3.

The result leaves Garvey with the straight forward task of winning their final fixture in Raphoe in a fortnight’s time to claim the Premier League title for only the second time in the last 12 seasons.