Elks see off ‘Garvey to reach last four of Irish Senior Cup

Ulster Elks Sarah MacAulay shields the ball from her Lisnagarvey. INLT 05-910-CON

The Elks made a blistering start to the game, opening the scoring inside two minutes when Shirley McCay rifled a long ball into the circle and Laura McAlpine was at hand to deflect past the keeper.

Lisnagarvey were not going to make life for the home side and they equalised with 12 minutes on the clock when, after a long ball was poorly dealt with, Sarah Colgan nipped in to dispatch a reverse-stick strike low to Rebecca Davidson’s left post.

Three minutes later the Elks restored their one-goal advantage with Sarah MacAulay making the incisive pass to pick out Louise Wright who deftly touched by the sliding goalkeeper.

But back came ‘Garvey who won a penalty corner and the resulting straight strike by Jenna McQueen found the bottom corner of the Elks’ goal to restore parity going into the break.

The second half was a stark contrast to the end-to-end nature of the first as the Hillsborough girls rarely found the opportunity to add to their tally with the Elks penning them back.

The Elks’s crucial third goal arrived on 53 minutes from a penalty corner variation, with Jessica McMaster doing the necessary with a reverse-stick deflection.

The game was then effectively killed off when another penalty corner routine was broken down, but following a scramble in the goal mouth Lyndsay Neish tapped in to seal the victory.

Ricky Lee’s side are back in Premier League action on Wednesday evening hosting Randalstown, pass-back 7:45pm at Jordanstown, before travelling to Pegasus on Saturday afternoon.

Ballyclare Ladies will be fighting for Senior 1 survival this weekend. Realistically, they need nine points from their remaining four fixtures.

Ballyclare host North Down this weekend, the side tipped to finish runners-up to champions-elect Armagh.

Down in Senior 4, Parkview Ladies who had no game at the weekend are in a much more comfortable mid-table position, and they will be hoping to move up a place when they entertain strugglers Cooke Ladies at Foundry Lane on Saturday.