Loughgall 2 - 0 Ards

Loughgall continued their unbeaten run as they dispatched Ards at Taylors Avenue, Carrickfergus last Tuesday night to seal their place in the Carnegie League Cup final.  Goals from debutant Andy Brown and Ryan Moffatt saw off a strong challenge from the Newtownards side that had two players dismissed in the second half.
Niall Currie was forced to alter his starting line-up as Darragh Peden was ruled out with an ankle injury.  Glenn Waddell came in and Neil Alderdice was repositioned to central defence to partner Alan Murphy.  Boss Currie in a bold decision replaced his attacking force with Andrew Brown and Raymond Wilkinson starting while Lukasz Adamczyk and Raymond Fitzpatrick were named on the bench.
Loughgall opened the scoring after only 5 minutes when Alan Murphy launched a free kick from the half way line towards goal.  Andrew Brown contested with ‘keeper Andy McDonald and managed to nod the ball home from 10 yards.
4 minutes later Willie Herron saw a 25 yard effort well saved by McDonald after good play by Murphy.  On 10 minutes in Ards’ first meaningful attack of the game Johnny Shaw hit a good shot from close range however ‘keeper Marc Robinson did well to parry before Neil Alderdice cleared the ball to safety.
Bryan Pentland managed to strike the crossbar on 20 minutes with a dipping effort from 35 yards. 
After the interval Ards continued to press and almost equalised on the hour mark as James Wilson powered a header goalwards only for Ryan Moffatt to clear off the line.  On 65 minutes Ards were reduced to ten men as Ricky Billing was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.  Billing was only on the field for 9 minutes before elbowing Bryan Pentland when challenging a cross ball.  The end result saw Pentland taken to hospital with a suspected broken cheekbone.
Ards had their best chance of the game 1 minute later when Darren Stirling was released clean through however their top scorer shot straight at ‘keeper Robinson when he should have done better.  On 75 minutes substitute Lukasz Adamczyk could have doubled Loughgall’s lead when he had an opportunity from 10 yards out however ‘keeper McDonald did well to gather the ball at the striker’s feet.  1 minute later Johnny Shaw was sent off for earning his second bookable offence with a late challenge.  With 5 minutes remaining the Villagers sealed the victory when Wilkinson and Moffatt combined before the latter easily turned a defender and curled the ball past McDonald in goals.  In the 90th minute Loughgall could have added to their tally as a counter attack saw ‘keeper McDonald spill a Wilkinson shot before doing well to save Adamczyk’s follow up.

Loughgall: M Robinson, Waddell, Pentland (Lavery 65m), Alderdice, Murphy, Herron, Moffatt, Adair (Smith 45m), Wilkinson, N Robinson, Brown (Adamczyk 61m).  Subs not used: Allen, Fitzpatrick.

Ards: McDonald, Nixon, Pike (Hyland 71m), Spence, Wilson, Shaw, McMillen, Roy, Stirling, McKee, Wright (Billing 56m). Subs not used: McBride, Johnston, Rutherford.

Referee:  Evan Boyce