City avenge an Irish Cup defeat by winning Intermediate Cup tie

ARMAGH City are through to the fourth round of the 2023/24 McComb’s Coach Travel Intermediate Cup.

And they will have enjoyed the fact that they booked their place at the expense of opponents who, several seasons ago, knocked them out of the Irish Cup when a great free kick by Armagh GAA player Jamal Hall sealed their fate.

Saturday was pay-back time and, to their credit, the Shea Campbell-managed locals erased that painful memory despite having been without without Ben Mullen who was injured, Shea Geraghty who was ill and Noeem Oladunjoye who was suspended after picking up yellow cards in each of the the previous two rounds. In addition, newcomer Igor Rutkowski was ineligible as he is cup tied.

The opening half saw Armagh largely dominant but unable to make a breakthrough, their closest effort having been a header by Conor Mullen which went narrowly wide although the striker looked to have been taken out by the visitors’ ‘keeper who escaped punishment. So, a scoreless first 45 minutes.

The second half began in simlar fashion with City continuing on top and starting to stretch Windmill who stuck manfully to the task of keeping things tight at the back in the hope of maybe creating something on the break. In the circumstances, therefore, chances were few and far between, though at times City were perhaps guilty of overplaying things, so giving their opponents time to re-group.

But on the hour they finally managed to make the breakthrough when the ball was played in from the left and Mullen was on hand to slot it home - 1-0.

Now trailing, Windmill had to be more adventurous if they were to continue in the competition. And that enabled City to find more space.

The hosts threatened to double their lead when they broke down the left where Matty Butler fed Andy Wilson who was crudely brought down. The free kick, however, yielded no reward.

And then, in the 70th minute, manager Campbell decided to make a triple substitution, withdrawing Stefan Lavery, Jordan King and Butler, and introducing Bradley Okaidja, Ethan Doogan Ballintine and debutant Eoin Flynn.

The effect was both instant and dramatic, for with their arrival having brought extra energy, within a couple of minutes the tie was effectively wrapped up when Mullen took possession down the left, cut in before passing a long ball to the far flank from where Marc McConnell drove unto the guests’ box to hit a glorious low drive into the far corner of the net – 2-0.

Ethan Jordan then made way for Luke Taylor in the centre of defence as City kept pushing for a third goal and they went close to gaining that after Scott McCann struck a superb pass out of defence to find McConnell who, from the right, delivered a tantalising low cross into the box where the on-rushing Wilson only just failed to reach.

Almost of full-time the visitors had a good chance to halve the deficit when they cut through the middle, but young Ballintine made an outstanding block to thwart their striker.

Armagh City: Conner Byrne, Jack Clarke, Ethan Jordan (Luke Taylor), Callum MacGregor, Scott McCann, Marc McConnell, Jordan King (Ethan Doogan-Ballintine), Matthew Butler (Bradley Okaidja), Stefan Lavery (Eoin Flynn), Andy Wilson, Conor Mullan.

Substitute not used: Keith Gaynor (gk).

Off-field, Saturday saw Darryl Williamson complete his last stint in the club lounge overseer as he and his wife are moving on to a new business venture in Bangor where they are opening a chip shop in the North Down seaside town’s High Street.

Darryl has managed the bar at Holm Park for the past two seasons on a totally voluntary basis and in that time he did an impeccable job.

Everybody in the club has expressed their gratitude on wishing the pair every success in their new venture and assure them that they can be assured of a warm welcome any time they are back in this part of the world.

City have no game this weekend so their next outing will be on Saturday, February 3 when they host Portstewart in the NIFL Play-R Fit Premer Intermediate League.