DELIGHT… Paul McGrath
Lisbellaw United booked their place in the Junior Cup final for the first time since 1997 on Tuesday night in Loughgall as they withstood a late onslaught from Windmill Stars to record a 3-2 victory.
Lisbellaw took their time to settle after a shaky opening few minutes but the Fermanagh & Western side began to dominate proceedings before eventually opening the scoring on 36minutes when Darren Rogers glancing header from a Davy Little corner nestled in the bottom corner.
On the stroke of half time Lisbellaw doubled their advantage when Little’s chipped through ball was taken down superbly by Paul McGrath before he tucked the ball past the Windmill Stars goalkeeper.
In the second period Lisbellaw continued to press forward with McGrath, Alan Veitch and Matthew McFrederick going close before a drilled cross from Veitch was turned into his own net by Windmill Stars defender Ruairi Cunningham after 72 minutes.
Lisbellaw were coasting to victory at 3-0 but the last ten minutes proved extremely nervy for the Fermanagh men as an 80th minute Ryan Devlin strike gave Windmill belief they could salvage something from the tie.
The pressure continued on the Lisbellaw defence and a 92nd minute goal from Joe McLaughlin left a grandstand finish which seen an effort at goal strike the post at the death but Lisbellaw held on to win 3-2.
Lisbellaw have won the Junior Cup just once in their history back in 1978 when current manager James McGrath was a player.
He will take charge of his second final as manager on Monday 5th May where they face Harryville Homers, last year’s beaten finalists.