Match Report v Dollingstown – 14/2/26
Lisburn Distillery v Dollingstown (Playr-Fit Premier Intermediate League) – Saturday 14th February 2026
Dollingstown were the visitors to New Grosvenor for the first time this season as Lisburn Distillery sought to make it four home wins and four clean sheets in a row at home in the Premier Intermediate League (PIL).
Fresh off the back of a win the previous Saturday against promotion chasers Ballyclare Comrades Lee Forsythe named an unchanged starting eleven, his first time doing so since taking over the side in November.
The Whites had a couple of tentative sights on goal in the opening five minutes but Ross Ferguson’s strike from a couple of yards outside the box went wide and then the Bangor loanee almost turned provider with a great pass to Matthew Herron but his effort from a narrow angle was straight at Gareth Buchanan.
Overall though there were few talking points of note in the opening 20 minutes as both sides settled into what looked set to become a needle match, with Dollingstown seeking to close the gap on the top sides and Distillery looking to move themselves off the second from bottom spot we have been confined to for weeks.
Forsythe’s side broke the deadlock with 24 minutes played as a throw in from the right was only cleared as far as Callum McComb, his first strike from the edge of the box was blocked by a defender but came right back to the January Player of the Month who saw his second bite of the cherry blocked again. This time though the ball fell for captain Jordan Morrison who had come forward to join the attack and he turned and shot goalwards finding the bottom corner and scoring his first goal for the club. There was a touch of fortune as the ball took a deflection off Dollingstown defender Matthew Allen that may have helped it past Buchanan but no one of a Distillery persuasion minded at all.
Distillery sought to quickly double their lead and in the 27th minute a Dean Lewis cross from the right was flicked on by either the head of Benny Igiehon or a Dollingstown defender but Herron’s volleyed effort as the ball came down was off target.
Dollingstown managed to bring themselves level after half an hour of football when Allen stole the ball off Herron out on the visitor’s right, got past a lunging tackle from Leon Lavery, and played the ball forward to Jonathan Ewart. The number 10 for the visitors took the ball past Aaron Sharkey a few yards into the Distillery half and showed good pace to sprint goalwards and fire past Dean Smyth for the equaliser.
In the closing 15 minutes of the opening half there was few sightings of goal for either side until Jamie McDonagh won a free kick for the Whites about 20 yards from goal. The winger dusted himself down to take the shot on goal himself but while his curling effort beat the wall it was always swerving the wrong side of Buchanan’s right hand post.
The sides went in at half time a goal apiece with very little to separate Forsythe and Stephen Uprichard’s men, it was sure to be an intriguing second 45 minutes.
Half Time: Lisburn Distillery 1-1 Dollingstown
The second half continued as a cagey and at times scrappy affair with neither keeper really being tested in the opening stages, although it was perhaps the visitors who were now seeing more of the ball and the best of the play.
There was a nervous moment for Distillery just before the hour mark when Aaron Sharkey went lunging into a 50 / 50 in the Whites penalty area and the referee blew his whistle but to the relief of more than a few people Ross Dunlop signalled for a free kick to the home side. Then in the 65th minute, Smyth did well to get down low to his left to save a headed effort from a Dollingstown attacker.
Forsythe introduced some fresh faces for Distillery with Guillaume Keke, Nathan Best and David Alfred being introduced and it was the latter of these who almost made an immediate impact with one of his first touches. With 68 minutes played the former Ards forward collected the ball from Ryan Sharkey and shot goalwards from the right just inside the box but Buchanan managed to get down to claw the ball away and unfortunately it just didn’t land right for Sharkey to finish off the rebound with the outcome eventually being a goal kick for the visitors.
With 20 minutes remaining, Best sent a cross into the visitor’s box from the left but it was just too high for Alfred, though Keke managed to keep possession on the other side of the box and found Igiehon with his cross but he headed just over. After a slow start to the second half, the Whites seemed to be showing more signs of life as the game entered its final stages.
Lavery was the next Distillery player to try his luck on Buchanan’s goal in the 74th minute with a free kick from the edge of the box that looked the perfect angle for the left sided player. However, like McDonagh earlier in the game, the young player beat the Dollingstown wall but the ball whistled over the crossbar. Five minutes later the visitors showed Distillery they were still very much in the game when Smyth had to show good hands to deny substitute Michael McCavitt.
Distillery put themselves back in front with less than ten minutes left in the game; Lewis, Alfred and Best linked up on the right wing and the former sent a perfect cross right into the danger area finding Igiehon, whose downward header beat Buchanan and nestled in the bottom corner.
The visitors did win some corners in the remaining minutes of the game and sent a few crosses into the Whites box but Smyth and his defence dealt with all of these relatively comfortably. In fact, it was the Whites who came closest to making it 3-1 through Igiehon but Buchanan denied him and a defender blocked the follow up from Best.
The final whistle eventually sounded to signal a fourth straight home win for Distillery with the three points being enough to lift the Whites two places in the table to 11th. It was not a game that will live long in the memory and the side may not have reached the performance level that they have at times in recent weeks but sometimes it can be nice to win ugly.
Next up we have the last of three home games in a row this Saturday, as Rathfriland Rangers are the visitors in the PIL.
Full Time: Lisburn Distillery 2-1 Dollingstown
Lisburn Distillery; Smyth (GK), Lewis, Lavery, McComb, Morrison (CP), R. Sharkey, Igiehon, McDonagh, A. Sharkey, Ferguson, Herron
Lisburn Distillery substitutions; Thompson (GK), Best (for McComb, 60 mins), Keke (for Herron, 60 mins), Miskimmin, Porter, Crawford, Alfred (for McDonagh, 67 mins)
