Match Report v Oxford Sunnyside – 29/11/25

Lisburn Distillery v Oxford Sunnyside (Playr-Fit Teamwear Premier Intermediate League) – Saturday 29th November 2025

After a 4-2 win against Finaghy in the Irish Cup the week before, Saturday saw Lee Forsythe take charge of Lisburn Distillery in league competition for the first time with Oxford Sunnyside the visitors. The Whites incidentally started their Irish Cup campaign at Knockramer Park back in August and ran out 4-2 winners in that tie and a similar outcome would have been more than welcome as Distillery still seek their first league win of the season and first points since the opening game against Knockbreda.

There was just the one change to the starting eleven for this game, captain Aaron Cochrane dropped out of the squad and was replaced in the team by Aaron Sharkey.

Peter McCann’s visitors had the brighter start to the game and in the opening 10 minutes Marcus Thompson was called upon to save from Ciaran O’Connor and Harry Adair and Adam Salley also saw his shot from a tight angle on the Sunnyside right clip the crossbar and bounce away to safety.

After this opening spell, Distillery started to see a little more of the ball and in the 17th minute Padraig McVicker played a good pass through to Benny Igiehon who powered his way into the opposition half but found the path to goal blocked by the visiting defence. Forced wide our top scorer could do little but try and clip the ball towards the back post for either Guillaume Keke or Jay Torrens to try and get something onto but in the end, the ball drifted onto the roof of the net.

The Lurgan side were still largely on top and just before the half hour mark a free kick from about 20 yards was taken short to Zach Cowan but his effort, while on target, was straight down Thompson’s throat. The Whites keepers’ save moments later from a Salley shot from range was much more impressive, getting across at full stretch to turn the ball around for a corner when it looked destined for the top corner.

A turning point came in the game after 33 minutes when the Oxford Sunnyside sought to attack from the centre circle and Fra Brennan went diving into a tackle, catching the man and not the ball, the referee showed little hesitation in sending the experienced Distillery defender for an early bath. On watching it back, the tackle possibly looked worse than it was but leaving the ground and lunging in gave the man in the middle little option.

The visitors were denied by the woodwork for the second time in the opening half when an attacker shot on goal after cutting in from the right and looked to have Thompson beat but could only watch as the ball bounced off the base of the Whites ‘keepers right hand post.

There was a flare up in the 44th minute when Gerard Storey was caught late by a Sunnyside player close to the halfway line with players from both sides getting involved in the aftermath; those of a Distillery persuasion perhaps pointing out to the referee that there seemed to be little difference in this challenge and Brennan’s red card. In the end Aaron Sharkey of Distillery and Cowan and O’Connor for the opposition were all given yellow cards for their parts in the incident.

By the time the half time whistle sounded 10 man Distillery were likely relieved to get into the changing room with the game goalless as that had certainly found themselves on the back foot for most of the opening 45 minutes and were no facing an even greater uphill struggle.

Half Time: Lisburn Distillery 0-0 Oxford Sunnyside

The home side were the first to threaten the opposition goal five minutes after the restart when a Thompson goal kick was flicked on, Keke controlled with his chest and shot on the turn but the ball was just wide of Eoin Hughes’ left hand post.

Forsythe’s side were dealt a blow after 53 minutes when Sunnyside played out from the back before making a break down the Whites left. The ball was eventually swung in towards the back post and Dean Lewis seemed to leave the ball thinking it would go out for a goal kick but was unaware that Adair had got round the back of him and the visiting player had the easy task scoring to give the visitors a deserved lead.

The second half was an improvement of sorts from Distillery; they were certainly seeing more of the ball but for all the huffing and puffing Hughes in goals for the opposition remained untested.

The Whites thought they were level in the 71st minute when a Lewis cross low from the right deflected off a defender and Igiehon slotted the ball into the bottom corner from inside the six-yard box but the offside flag was quickly raised. It did look as if the number nine had ran marginally ahead of the last visiting defender before Lewis crossed and to add to the frustration the ball may have just been creeping in at the back post regardless, it would prove to be another moment defining moment in the game.

Distillery continued to push for an all-important equaliser into the closing stages of the game and substitute Ryan Sharkey tried his luck on goal from the edge of the box but it was straight down the throat of Hughes. Jude O’Hara also tried his luck with a couple of long throws into the Sunnyside box but the visitors largely dealt with these, at one point the ball did find Caleb Crawford but just didn’t sit for the defender to get a shot off.

Unfortunately, for the Whites the visitors sealed the win in the 3rd minute of injury time when McCann’s side again played forward from the back and eventually the ball was played infield from the right to Salley who charged beyond the Distillery defence and fired the ball past the oncoming Thompson.

In the end it was a frustrating day for the watching Distillery fans, few could fault the effort certainly in the second half but ultimately there was just a little quality lacking that was required to take anything from the game. Perhaps on another day had the game remained 11v11 or even 10v10, as some may feel it should have been, it would have been a different story but as it stands the Whites are still awaiting their first league win of the campaign.

Full Time: Lisburn Distillery 0-2 Oxford Sunnyside

Lisburn Distillery; Thompson (GK), Lewis (C), Lavery, Brennan, Igiehon, Keke, McVicker, Sharkey, Torrens, Storey, Crawford

Lisburn Distillery substitutions; Kingham (GK), Lynch (for McVicker, 76 mins), R. Sharkey (for Torrens, 46 mins), Anderson, Geddis, Napier, O’Hara (for Lewis, 84 mins)