Gilmore’s goals help Bann to Irish Cup victory at UCD

However, Tumilty was pleased to see his side secure a 5-3 win over the Leinster side.

“It was a tough game for us. They haven’t been beaten in Leinster yet this season and we knew it would be a hard match,” he said.

“We were probably a bit rusty in the first half but once we got going, I thought we played well.”

Tumilty was keen to praise Neil Gilmore, who grabbed a brace on Saturday.

“I’ve been impressed with Neil’s attitude,” he said. “He is doing the right things and is definitely developing well.

“He still has some things to work on but he knows that himself and that’s what I like about him.”

Banbridge travelled to UCD on Saturday for their first match in defense of their Irish Senior Cup title against UCD.

The Bann men came out on top in the end of what was a unexpectedly tough game against a side that has lost some key players recently.

One such player was Kirk Shimmins whose move to Pembroke left the side with big boots to fill.

Nevertheless the young Dublin side came at Banbridge with everything they had and put up a very good fight.

The senior cup rules meant the team went back to the old format of two halves of 35 minutes as opposed to the new four quarters of 15 minutes.

The first minutes saw UCD come on the attack, winning a few corners which failed to beat the Bann defense.

Peter Bingham doing very well in goals to replace Gareth Lennox who was unavailable.

It took a while for Banbridge to get into the game but they finally came through with Neil Gilmore proving his attacking prowess and putting two on the score sheet.

Bruce McCandless also adding his name to the tally as he and Frasier Mills combined terrifically to produce another goal for Bann.

Jamie Wright and Josh Moffet working extremely hard upfront with Stephen Dowds and Owen Magee always posing a threat to the home side.

Another excellent bit of skill saw Jonny McKee burst his way into the circle beating a few defenders with some magic trickery then lobbed the ball over the keeper.

Josh Moffet wasnt taking any chances and made sure that the ball made it into the net to claim his goal.

Owen Magee got Bann’s fifth goal combining very well with McKee and then calmly firing the ball past the UCD keeper.

Bann will be disappointed with the three goals against them as they seemed to come from being caught unguarded with all three goals, something that this strong Banbridge side will undoubtedly improve on.

The next draw for the Irish Senior cup will take place on November 4 at 11.30am.