Glenavon 4-0 Warrenpoint Town

Mourneview Park, Tuesday 3rd December 2019

Mid-Ulster Cup Semi-Final

Match report by Philip Hawthorne

Photos by Maynard Collins

Glenavon, current holders of the Euro Electrix Mid-Ulster Cup, breezed through to the final with a comfortable 4-0 victory against Warrenpoint Town.

Sammy Clingan, on his return from a long period out with an Achilles problem, opened the scoring in the 30th minute with an exquisite curling free kick around the wall after Jordan Jenkins was tripped inside the ‘D’. Clingan’s superb effort left Town keeper Berat Turker grasping at thin air.

The game was all but over around the hour mark when two goals in as many minutes put the Lurgan Blues 3-0 up. Daniel Larmour made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute when he nodded in from close range as the ball was kept alive with some head tennis following a free kick into the Town box and Stephen Murray got his first goal of the night in the 65th after he was played in by a lovely through ball down the right by fullback Andy Hall.

Murray should have had another goal a few minutes later when he was put through by Jordan Jenkins but as he tried to take the ball around Turker the German keeper just got a hand to it.

The former Warrenpoint striker was not to be denied his brace though and again Hall was the provider when his cross into the danger area was only partly cleared and Murray pounced on the rebound to drive home from 14 yards.

Glenavon dominated the game throughout and had chances to score other goals, had another Murray effort ruled out for offside and a brilliant save by Turker pushed a fierce shot from Jenkins onto the bar.

Four goals and a clean sheet against a fellow Premiership team should help restore some confidence following Saturday’s disastrous showing at Taylor’s Avenue, ahead of the visit of Larne to Mourneview for next Saturday’s Dankse Bank Premiership match.

Glenavon: Taylor, Burns, Larmour, Marron, Barr, Clingan, Jenkins, Murray, Hall, Wearen. Subs: Neill, Carson, Bassett (replaced Marron 78), Hunter (replaced Wearen 75), Beggs (replaced Clingan 62)

Warrenpoint Town: Turker, Bennett, Smith, McVeigh (c), O’Connor, Doyle, Young, Ford, McCann, O’Kane, Murnaghan. Subs: Byrne, O’Sullivan, Watters (replaced Smith 66), Cowan (replaced O’Kane 66), Wallace

Referee: Glen Buchanan, Assistants: Jamie Patterson, Adrian Sobiesky