Lisnagarvey book their place in Boxing Day final with fine win

Lisnagarvey 3 Instonians 2
Peter MacDonnell scores for Lisnagarvey. Pic by Rowland White/PresseyePeter MacDonnell scores for Lisnagarvey. Pic by Rowland White/Presseye
Peter MacDonnell scores for Lisnagarvey. Pic by Rowland White/Presseye

Lisnagarvey made extremely heavy weather of their Kirk Cup semi final against Instonians at Shaws Bridge last Sunday.

They had to come from behind on two occasions before winning a very tense and exciting match by 3 goals to 2.

Starting with the young Sean Murray and without the influence of the injured Jason Lynch, Garvey were slow to get warmed to the game and they were caught napping in the 4th minute when ex Garvey player Stuart McNiece scored the opening goal and immediately gave Garvey a difficult task.

Again, Johnny Quigley was a threat, bursting through on the right and a run from him led to Garvey’s first penalty corner in the 8th minute.

Quigley brought about Garvey’s next scoring chance with another telling surge but this time after a switch to Cockram and a shot, Peter MacDonnell was available to slot home a rebound and bring the game back to parity at 1-1.

Garvey were not so lucky with an Instonians penalty corner in the 30th minute. The initial shot was saved but after a melee in the Garvey goal mouth the ball was forced over the line by Paul Gleghorne to take his team into a 2-1 lead at the half time interval.

Sean Murray had an early second half chance to equalise but that honour fell almost inevitably to Mark Raphael who popped up on the right of the circle to find the net from close range and the game was back in the balance.

Garvey had lost their power house player Daniel Buser shortly after the start of the second half but he returned to fire Garvey’s drive for the winner and after another misplaced shot by Cockram, Thompson won Garvey’s 6th penalty corner in the 59th minute. This time, Timmy Cockram made no mistake with a hard low flick which beat Johnston for pace and took his team into a 3-2 lead with 10 nervous minutes left in a pulsating match.

Garvey held on to the final whistle to claim a place in the Boxing Day final on their home ground with a large holiday crowd expected.