Seconds crash out of Junior Cup with heads held high

LISNAGARVEY Seconds travelled to Dublin on Saturday to play Monkstown in the second round of the Irish Junior Cup.

Garvey knew they would be in for a tough game against the Leinster team on a tricky pitch.

Monkstown started the brighter of the two teams and put the Lisburn men under severe pressure for the first 20 minutes. The Garvey defence held strong thanks to some great tackles and some outstanding saves by young Gavin Adams. Indeed, Monkstown had a series of three short corners in a row but could not convert.

Unfortunately Garvey really struggled on the Monkstown pitch and never really got their passing game going resulting in only one shot on goal in the first half. The Lisburn men were upbeat at half time as they knew they still had to find their passing game.

Garvey started well in the second half and began to string some passes together with Whitten and Stirling linking up well. A fine pass from John Gray found Stirling in the circle with the goal mouth open but he was stick tackled and the umpire warded a short corner when a stroke looked certain. Garvey were not downhearted for long as the Lisburn men scored from the short corner with Andy Allen finding John Gray on the bye line for a tap in. There were 15 minutes left on the clock and Garvey were always going to be up against it but the Lisburn men worked tirelessly to break down and frustrate Monkstown.

Monkstown were awarded a dubious short corner 10 minutes from time with John Gray punished for a clean tackle. Monkstown took the corner well with a switched variation to the right finding the backboard. Garvey tried in vein to grasp a late winner and nearly did when Stirling found Whitten just outside the circle with just the keeper to beat but unfortunately the keeper forced him wide and was able to make the save.

Garvey were dealt a sucker punch two minutes from time when Monkstown caught them on the break by scoring with a well taken reverse from the top of the circle. It is worth paying tribute to the eight Garvey schoolboys who all put in a strong and mature display and can really take heart from their performance.