McComb's Coach Travel Intermediate Cup, Round Three
Immaculata 3-2 Willowbank
THE proverbial game of two halves went the way of Immaculata at Grosvenor on Saturday afternoon as they moved into the last 16 of the Intermediate Cup at the expense of Willowbank.
Such an outcome seemed a long way off at half-time as the holders trailed 2-0 having been completely outplayed by their West Belfast neighbours and indeed, that deficit could well have been greater.
But they were given a lifeline early in the second period with Brian McCaul converting from the penalty spot. That was a momentum swinger as their pressure eventually told with two goals in as many minutes late on to see them grab the win in a dramatic fashion.
Willowbank settled better as they got the ball down and probed but without creating anything particularly clear-cut. That was until the eighth minute when Conall Maguire tried to roll a pass into Richard McAvoy, and although the ball broke off the striker out to Declan Gill on the left, the winger curled beautifully into the far corner for the opener.
The holders were not making much headway, with a Brendan Shannon free-kick in a good position lacking accuracy. This was their highlight of the half, as mistakes at the back from Willowbank seemed to provide any openings.
Instead, the Beechmount side was much more threatening as they found plenty of space on the counter and Gill's tenacity saw him force a turnover and slip out to Ryan McAreavy on the right, whose low effort forced an excellent save from Ruairi Murray, who got down to divert it over.
The threat down the left flank continued for Willowbank with Richard McAvoy sent clear, but instead of finding the unmarked Ryan McAreavey inside, he went for a shot himself that was off target.
Immaculata began to get on the ball a little more without doing a lot with it as the threat of another goal came at the other end and it duly arrived six minutes before the break. Again, it was Gill at the heart of it as he again nipped in to win possession, threading a perfect ball out to McAreavey on the right whose cut-back offered McAvoy the simplest of tasks to turn home.
They could have had a third just before the half as Conall Maguire got on the end of a long ball, but his attempted lob didn't have enough behind it as Willowbank had to settle for a 2-0 advantage at the break.
Immaculata needed something to bring their challenge to life in the second period and got the break they needed as just two minutes in, Michael Mervyn attempted to clip a ball into the box from the right but it struck the hand of Gill, giving referee, Philip Caulfield no option but to point to the spot and McCaul stepped up to drill into the right corner to give the Divis side life.
Willowbank almost hit back minutes later, but Conall Maguire's fine curling effort was just off target.
However, as the minutes ticked by, Immaculata took more and more of a grip as they were now the side asking all the questions with Mervyn's long throws into the box causing panic.
Just shy of the hour mark, an attempted header away from Ciaran Manson broke to Gary McVicker, but he couldn't get a good connection with the shot that was never going to trouble Ciaran Kelly.
Kelly then had to be alert to come out of his box to be first to a long ball intended for Brendan Shannon, while McCaul tried his luck from a free-kick that was too high.
The pressure finally paid off 10 minutes from time as another long throw into the penalty area by Mervyn saw substitute Mark Sloan get there first and his header found the net to level.
Two minutes later, the turnaround was complete as a free-kick on the edge of the box saw Shannon let fly and he drilled it into the right corner to give the Mac the lead.
Cian Dynes had a chance to seal it, but he shot at Kelly as Willowbank were now looking to throw everything at it to get themselves back on terms.
A long ball into the penalty area was fumbled by Immaculata goalkeeper Murray with Matthew Reid letting fly, but his effort took a deflection and went up and over. The resulting corner saw the ball break back to Conall Maguire, but his curling effort was outside the far post.
Immaculata were holding on but could have had a fourth at the death when Dynes rolled across goal for Slaon to tap home, but somehow Kelly got down for a quite remarkable save.
However, time was as good as up as Immaculata's superb comeback saw them retain their grip on the trophy as they moved into the Fourth Round.
IMMACULATA: R Murray, M Mervyn, P Adams, Ben McCaul, E Templeton (D Bellew 89), L Brady (C Dynes 78), G McVicker (R McAuley 71), B Kennedy, E Fallon (M Sloan 71), Brian McCaul, B Shannon.
Goals: Brain McCaul 47 (pen); M Sloan 80; B Shannon 82
WILLOWBANK: C Kelly, N Halfpenny, P Hamilton, M Reid, C Manson, G Doran, D Gill (E McCullough 75), M Savage, R McAvoy (S McCutcheon 83), C Maguire, R McAreavey (D McCrory 89).
Goals: D Gill 8; R McAvoy 39
REFEREE: Philip Caulfield
Round Three results
Abbey Villa 4-1 Rathfriland Rangers
Ballymacash Rangers 6-3 Desertmartin
Banbridge Town 0-2 Kilmore Rec
Belfast Celtic 0-2 Dunmurry Rec
Bourneview Mill 3-1 Rosemount Rec
Crewe United 2-0 Albert Foundry
Dunmurry YM 0-1 Banbridge Rangers
Finaghy 0-1 East Belfast
Hanover 0-3 Crumlin Star
Lisburn Distillery 2-0 Killyleagh YC
Lisburn Rangers 0-4 Queen's University
Richhill AFC 4-1 Mossley
St James' Swifts 3-2 St Matthew's
Immaculata 3-2 Willowbank
Warrenpoint Town 2-0 Crusaders Reserves
Aquinas 1-5 Seagoe
