Tennent’s Irish Cup Round 5
Loughgall 3 – 0 Fivemiletown United

Fivemiletown’s historic Irish Cup run came to an end on Saturday as 3 goals in the last 10 minute’s saw former cup winners Loughgall through to the last 16.
Fivemiletown travelled to Lakeview Park in fine form, having remained unbeaten in the league so far this season, and with the home team having won 5 of their last 6 games. It made for entertaining fare.

Loughgall started brightly and threw plenty of long ball’s into the Fivemiletown penalty area, which were dealt with superbly by Anderson & Trotter at Centre Back. Loughgall’s main threat in the first half appeared to be down their right, but again, Little and McDowell were a match for their counterparts. The first real effort of the first half came on 24 minutes when a Ricki Carroll back heel was met by the incoming Little who fierce shot fizzed over the bar. 2 minutes later and Little stung the hands of the home keeper with a 30 yard free kick. With a fierce battle going on in the middle of the park, which Matty Callaghan was edging, chances were few and far between. A cute reverse pass by Gillespie saw Baron one v one with the keeper only to be denied by the linesman’s flag. 34 minutes in, and Loughgall missed the best chance of the half when John Uprichard hit an upright.
As the floodlights turned off, the second half kicked off, and on 59 minutes Loughgall were reduced to 10 men following Ricky Copeland’s second caution of the game after a late challenge on Ricki Carroll.

Loughgall’s new signing Andrew Hoey continued to be a threat but was superbly marshalled throughout by young centre half Gary Trotter.
As the game entered its final phase, it looked as though extra time was looming. Loughgall won an 80th minute free kick on the left hand side, and the resulting free kick was met by John Uprichard whose looping header took an eternity to drop into the net.
6 minutes later and the tie was as good as over. Mark McConnell cut inside from the right and his 25 yard left foot strike flew past Quinn who got a hand to it.
Fivemiletown threw on Malachy McLaughlin, Ivan Carson and Simon Johnston for a final roll of the dice, but were caught on the counter after Barry Anderson had headed a good chance wide for the Valley men. Dallas fired home on 90 minutes to give the final scoreline an unfair look, as Loughgall will concede they were more than matched throughout.
Manager Robinson was obviously disappointed at the result, but was upbeat as he spoke about the way this season has gone. “To be disappointed at not being in the last 16 of the Irish Cup sums up how far we have come in the past six months. To a man every player has done me and their club proud and given their all and yet there is so much yet to come from this squad as we refocus on our main goal of trying to finish as high as possible in the league. With the support we get this will be a reality not a dream. I would like to thank the committee for their support so far and thanks again to every supporter to date, best fans in the country.”