A SUPERB Royal and Prior, Raphoe 1st XI surged through to the McCullough Cup final this afternoon.
Royal and Prior, Raphoe 3 Wallace High School 1
On the home turf in Raphoe, and backed by a sizeable crowd, the local scholars defeated Wallace High School from Lisburn to reach next Wednesday’s final against Banbridge.
Ben Wallace, one of the underage internationals in the Royal and Prior side, netted twice, either end of a strike by Luke Witherow, another man who has worn the Irish jersey.
The Raphoe students, appearing in their first semi-final of this magnitude in eight years, started superbly and were two-nil ahead in the first 20 minutes.
[adrotate group=”88″]Wallace drilled home in the 5th minute following a superbly-worked short-croner.
14 minutes later, they doubled the lead as Jordan Devenney’s brilliant cross from the right was finished by Witherow.
By then, Wallace High School were down to ten men as Jordan Taggart was sent to the sin-bin for a stick trip on Jamie McKinney.
[adrotate group=”46″]The excellent McKinney was thwarted by James Richie, the Wallace goalkeper, with the chance of a third before the visitors hit back.
Sbusiso JJ in the Royal and Prior goal came to prominance with a wonderful reaction save to deny Ben Nelson and, early in the second half he did well to block a driving effort from Andrew O’Hare.
Finally, in the 50th minute, Wallace broke through, as Jacob Herman’s cross-cum-shot flew past Sbusiso and into the far corner.
[adrotate group=”76″]Sbusiso got a vital touch to Craig Getty ‘s teasing cross but Raphoe made the win safe 12 minutes from the end as the Royal’s trio of Irish aces combined.
Luke Witherow’s short corner was teed up by Alexander Tinney and Wallace applied the finish, blasting past Richie to propel the Royal and Prior into a final meeting with Banbridge next Wednesday in Lisnagarvey.
Royal and Prior, Raphoe: Sbusiso JJ, Tom Eaton, Peter Scott, Ben Wallace, James Roulstone, Alexander Tinney, Jordan Devenney, Mark Buchanan, Luke Witherow, Jack Patterson, Jamie McKinney, James Wilson, Jake Watt, Zac West.
Wallace High School, Lisburn: James Richie, Patrick Hunter, Jordan Taggart, Craig Getty, Scott McCabe, Jacob Herman, William Carey, Johnny Lynch, Callum Patterson, Ben Nelson, Andrew O’Hare.
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