North West Senior Cup Semi Final

Moyola Park 0
Coleraine 2 (Mullan, Morrow)

Moyola welcomed Coleraine to the Mill Meadow on Tuesday night for the Semi-Final of the North West Senior Cup. Moyola Park manager Mervyn Pattison made three changes from the team which lost to Donegal Celtic on Saturday with McIlhatton, Kelly and McWhirter in the starting eleven with McNamee and Taggart moved to the bench and Waddell being unavailable.

The visitors had the first effort on goal in the 1st minute a header from Morrow was cleared following a corner on the right. The next chance fell in the 9th minute when a corner on the Moyola right by Beggs was met by the unmarked McQuillan, however his header went over the bar.

A minute later at the other end and run from Morrow saw him shoot over and in the 12th minute a great run from Paul saw him beat two Coleraine defenders, however he saw his resulting shot blocked and from the resulting play Beggs pulled the ball back to McIlhatton at the edge of the box and he fired his shot over.

In a game that was end to end a dangerous ball in from Allan was cleared by Farniok in the 14th minute and the same player had a shot saved by farniok three minutes later.  The 21st minute brought a great run from McElpatrick which saw him beat three players only to see his shot deflected wide and from the resulting corner Mullan headed past Farniok to give the visitors the lead.

Moyola continued to push for a goal and Forrest found Beggs in the 25th minute only to see him shoot wide and three minutes later Kelly was given a yellow card for a foul on the edge of the box and Allan fired the resulting free-kick straight at the wall. The 28th minute saw Allan in action again when his shot was deflected and saved by Farniok and with ten minutes left before half time Forrest fired a long range effort straight at McMullan.

In the 39th minute Farniok punched clear a free kick from Law and two minutes later Beggs found Paul and he saw his resulting shot blocked. The last action of the first half saw both McWhirter and Mullan booked following an altercation.

The first chance of the second half saw a free kick from Rafferty blocked by the Coleraine wall and a minute later Edgar was booked for the visitors. In the 54th minute run from Whiteside saw him shoot wide for the visitors and a minute later Forrest was booked for the home side as he stopped a break from Coleraine.

Moyola continued to push for an equaliser and a free-kick from Kelly in the 57th minute was headed at McMullan by McIlhatton and four minutes later the home side made their first change with Taggart coming on for Paul.  The 63rd minute saw McAllister make a goal saving block after McElpatrick found Allan who shot towards goal and a minute later Law fired a shot wide of the far post.

Moyola had two chances in the 68th and 69th minutes with Rafferty and Beggs combining with McIlhatton who shot wide and then Rafferty and Taggart combining with the same player who saw his shot blocked this time.

With twenty minutes left McAllister came to the rescue again with a block following a shot from McElpatrick and at the other end Rafferty fired into the side netting. The second half was like the first half with the action end to end and a great run from Allan in the 72nd minute saw his cut back gathered by Farniok and Allan was in action again three minutes later as he was shown a yellow card.

Moyola made their second change in the 76th minute with McNamee replacing McWhirter and the last chance for the home side came in the 85th minute with Taggart shooting over from long range.  With four minutes left Coleraine replaced Allan with Gawne and the visitors sealed the victory in the 90th minute when McElpatrick pulled the ball back to Morrow at the edge of the box and he fired past Farniok in the home goal.

The last action of the game saw Coleraine replace Weir and McElpatrick with McKendry and Black.

Moyola Park: Farniok, McAllister, Harris, McQuillan, Kelly, Forrest, Beggs, McIlhatton, Rafferty, Paul, McWhirter. Subs: McNamee, Taggart, Rowe, Ritchie.

Coleraine: McMullan, Mullan, Edgar, Weir, Surgenor, Law, McElpatrick, Whiteside, Morrow, Allan, Francis. Subs: Black, Gawne, McKendry, Dunne.