Lisburn Distillery v Rectory Rangers – Intermediate Cup 1st Round (16th October 2021)
The Intermediate Cup began on Saturday with Lisburn Distillery hosting Mid-Ulster League side Rectory Rangers to New Grosvenor. The visitors had lost all their league games to date going into Saturday’s game so the Whites will certainly have been the pre-game favourites.
Johnny Clapham made three changes to his side, top goalscorer Caoelain Young returned to the starting lineup after being on the bench against Banbridge last week, Barry Moore started in place of Chris Getty and Rhys Emerson made a return from injury with Paul Young and Aaron Harris being the other players to drop out.
Distillery started the game brightly and had the first chance on goal in the 1st minute of play when they won a free-kick, which Mick O’Hanlon delivered and found the head of Christian Irvine but unfortunately the Whites centre-back had moved to soon and was called offside.
The lead did come for the home side though in the 4th minute when another free-kick was won right on the edge of the box, O’Hanlon took responsibility again and sent the ball around the wall and into the bottom left hand corner; though the Rectory keeper, John Forde will have been disappointed to see it go in having gotten a hand to the ball.
Clapham’s side continued to dominate throughout the half and had opportunities though Young who tried to get on the end of a cross from the right but was beaten to the ball by Forde with a defender on hand to fully clear the danger, Stephen Sullivan got on the end of a Timmy Clarke cross from the left but his header at the back post was blocked by Rangers ‘stopper and just before the 30 minute mark O’Hanlon did beat Forde with an effort from range but his shot came back off the post.
The second goal did come for the home side in the 39th minute and it was worth the wait as Lewis Higginson let rip with a fine strike from range that crashed off the underside of the bar and over the line, it was the former Ards midfielders first goal in a white shirt.
Before the break Higginson had another shot tipped around the post by Forde and Moore met a deep cross at the back post and tried to head it back across goal but the ball was cleared by a Rangers defender.
The half-time whistle brought an end to a half that had all been one way traffic, with Distillery ‘keeper Jonah Nicholl having been largely a spectator.
Half-time: Lisburn Distillery 2-0 Rectory Rangers
Second half saw the Whites moving up through the gears and it was no surprise to see them add a further three goals ahead of the final whistle.
First up on 58 minutes defender Christian Irvine was on hand to stab the ball home after Rangers defence failed to cclear a Distillery corner to allow Irvine to notch up Distillery’s third and in doing so his first ever goal for the club.
The Whites continued to press and it was only good work by the visiting gaokepper that kept the score at 3-0 however with 77 minutes his lucked turned as an effort from Caoelain Young bounced back off the post and then back into the net off the back of the keeper as he lay on the ground after diving to stoip the first effort.
It was cruise control for the Whites and a the icing on the cake soon followed as on 83 minutes C.Young converted with a close range header at the back post, this time without any assistance from the visiting goalkeeper.
FULL TIME SCORE LISBURN DISTILLERY 5 RECTORY RANGERS 0
Lisburn Distillery; Nicholl, Dillon, Clarke, Irvine, Higginson, O’Hanlon, Sullivan, C. Young, Napier, Emerson, Moore
Lisburn Distillery substitutes; Pollock, Getty, McCaw (for Higginson, 77), Grattan (for Emerson, 65), Reid
