Garvey get new season off to a fine start with Cookstown win

Lisnagarvey got their new Premier League season off to a fine start when they defeated Cookstown by 4 goals to 1 at Comber Road last Saturday.

It took last season’s league runners up most of the 70 minutes to get into top gear but in the end they were more than deserved winners.

Playing for the first time for over twenty years without ace defender Brian Waring, Garvey coped more than adequately with the mostly toothless Cookstown attack but in the 5th minute a moment of indecision led to a penalty corner for the visitors. Their effort went past the post and Garvey began to control the game from their very active midfield of Mark Raphael, Peter MacDonnell and the outstanding Daniel Buser.

Pressure down the right from Buser led to the opening goal in the 15th minute. He worked the ball well before setting up Andy Williamson for his first goal for his new club.

Buser and MacDonnell combined superbly five minutes later but the resulting shot was off target and gradually Garvey were taking charge of the exchanges. A Johnny Quigley deflection in the 24th minute had to be well saved by Cookstown keeper Ian Hughes and Andy Williamson’s hard work on the right almost led to goal number two just before the half time interval which left the home side still leading by the single goal.

The first half had seen a lot of effort but little creation from both sides but the second half had only started when a bad mistake by the Cookstown defence led to the vital second goal for Garvey.

The Cookstown defender presented Timmy Cockram with the ball just outside the circle and the striker calmly beat the helpless Hughes with a well placed reverse stick shot into the net.

Garvey never looked back after their second strike and a series of set pieces saw Garvey go close.

Another penalty corner in the 58th minute led to a Jason Lynch shot going wide of the target and Greg Thompson also was close to scoring after a fine move down the left.

A fourth penalty corner was very well saved by Ian Hughes in the 64th minute as Garvey tried to finish off the game but they were shocked in the 65th minute when slack passing on Garvey’s left led to Cookstown scoring through Mark Crooks and suddenly Garvey were under some pressure to take all three points.

However, the game was ‘put to bed’ in the final three minutes when Timmy Cockram scored twice from Garveys 5th and 6th penalty corners. The first in the 67th minute saw his drag flick power past Hughes while in the last few seconds he chose to drive the ball into the net confusing the big Cookstown keeper in the process.

Garvey had totally dominated the second half of this match fully deserving their three goal winning margin. Their quick interchange of the ball proved too much for an under strength Cookstown side while the set piece skills of Timmy Cockram proved conclusive.

New coach Errol Lutton must have been more than pleased with the performance and must be optimistic about the game against Banbridge at Havelock Park on Saturday also at the later time of 5pm. Even as early as the second match, the result of this game could have a large bearing on the Premier League title and Garvey would be happy with a point against the new season’s pace setters.