Seven heaven for Garvey leaves Newry in trouble

With the home side requiring a result from the game, they could not have got off to a worse start as Garvey opened the scoring following their first attack. It led to a penalty corner in the second minute and when the James Lorimer shot was parried, Andy Forrest slotted the home in the scramble.

Always the dominant team, Garvey should have increased their lead and were unlucky when both Daniel Buser and Sean Murray saw great efforts cannon off the upright while a second penalty corner in the 11th minute was completely wasted on the uncertain surface.

Garvey deserved a second goal but had to wait until the 21st minute when after good work by Peter MacDonnell and Andy Williamson, Sean Murray squeezed the ball inside the far post and out of reach of the Newry keeper.

A third penalty corner for Garvey was forced in the 26th minute but this time James Lorimer, in the absence of the injured Timmy Cockram, put his drag flick past the post. After two more chances for Williamson and Johnny Quigley, the first half ended with the visitors still leading by two.

The second half continued as the first with Garvey having almost total possession but it took until the 48th minute for them to stretch their lead. The teams swapped penalty corners in the 43rd and 45th minutes before a great Richard Arneill run on the left gave Andy Williamson the easiest of tasks to slip the ball home.

Murray was the source of the fourth goal when he gave Jason Lynch the ball on the left edge of the circle and the midfielder scored with his trademark reverse stick effort inside the far post. Newry immediately struck back with a soft goal through a limp Garvey defence taking the score to 4-1.

The final 15 minutes saw Garvey add a further three goals to the tally. First, James Lorimer found the net via a Newry defender from the fifth set piece in the 63rd and Sean Murray and Andy Williamson completed the victory with two simple efforts.

The result leaves opponents Newry in deep relegation trouble and Garvey cementing their runner up place in the Premier League as Banbridge took the title with a win over Instonians.