Bangor traversed to Paisley Park on Saturday knowing what was at stake. At a venue where there was a lot of unwanted nerves last time, while it proved more of a formality on this occasion, there was never going to be licence to take the foot off the pedal. The Seasiders could count on a known marksman to deliver his first hat-trick for the club in a 35-minute second half span, contributing to a sound win over Albert Foundry.
It is a stated principal objective of manager Lee Feeney to ensure yellow and blue ribbons don the cup come Christmas Eve. As Foundry piled some pressure on when the deficit was controversially cut and the clean sheet contentiously lost, the Yellows kept cool and clear heads to cut through and complete the job as asked. The Steel and Sons Cup quarter-finals have been navigated – and now, all roads lead to Seaview.
In time for a 1:30pm kick-off, supporters were greeted by overcast weather conditions and a mild breeze in west Belfast.
Earlier nights and colder climates are to be expected as autumn transitions into winter, but any chills would have been worth it if the win could be seen through.
It was no shock to see Feeney go strong. Compared to the previous Saturday’s success over Belfast Celtic, in which Bangor prevailed 0-3 to advance to the Irish Cup fourth round, the Clandeboye chief made two adjustments.
Adam Neale – who was cup-tied and will be for all foreseeable Irish Cup games – was restored to the side in place of Michael Halliday, with the 43-year-old two-goal hero on the Seasiders’ last visit here in the Intermediate Cup first round named to the bench, while returnee Australian Ryley D’Sena slotted in for the injured David Hume on the right side of defence.
Neale, whose younger brother and vice-captain Reece remains out injured alongside the likes of captain Lewis Harrison, Jamie Glover and Ethan Boylan, started alongside Ben Arthurs in the usual two-pronged strike-pair that has proved so fruitful since the former arrived from Rathfriland. They were to declare their influence once more when the ball was set rolling.
A moment’s reflection on remembrance weekend was had just prior to kick-off before Scott McArthur – hoping to add to his delightful goal at Celtic, his third of the campaign – got things under way under the watch of referee Gavin Morgan for the day’s tie.
| Premier Intermediate | 14/11/22 | ||
| Limavady United | 1 | 2 | Tobermore United |
Not many minutes had elapsed before Bangor were handed a golden opportunity to draw first blood.
As the visitors pushed towards goal, Gareth Beattie flicked the ball with his head into Arthurs’ path from an overhit cross, and the Kircubbin striker controlled well to keep the sequence alive. He attracted a lunge from a Foundry defender to the left side of the box in which he got all man and no ball, leaving Morgan with no choice but to point to the spot.
Penalties have been a rare experience for those in yellow shirts this season, with this one being only their second to date and first in a knockout setting. The first was at the Limavady Showgrounds in late August where McArthur was upended by Limavady United shot-stopper Paul Wells, with Arthurs confidently stepping up to convert what proved to be the only goal of the game on a drizzly day on the north coast.
Three months on, with eight minutes played, the striker was presented with another chance to bury it from 12 yards and add his 86th goal for the club. He made no mistake, and although Foundry keeper Jonathon Sloan dived the correct way, there was enough lift to assure Arthurs of his 11th strike of this term.
Perhaps the visitors should have had another penalty or two, when credible appeals from McArthur (10’) and Karl Devine (12’) were waved away.
A couple of efforts from Neale followed, with his first from the inside-right on 15 minutes rising just wide of the top left corner after pulling the trigger from 20 yards. His second, on 20 minutes, came from a free kick, where he fired on his preferred right foot but saw his drive from distance in the left channel saved comfortably by Sloan.
Feeney was to be dealt a blow, however, when Arthurs was forced off with a knock on 23 minutes. It was like déjà vu in the sense that when starting striker Jordan Hughes was replaced by Michael Halliday around the same time in the sides’ first meet, the east Belfast line-leader was again introduced as an injury-enforced early change.
When Neale was bleeding from his face just a few minutes later, the Kilkeel supremo could have been forgiven for cursing his luck. Thankfully, the Ballynahinch star only needed a small plaster to stop the bloodflow just over his eye before soldiering back on.
Meanwhile, McArthur dribbled enterprisingly from D’Sena’s low ball and marginally missed the mark on pulling the trigger, before Dylan O’Kane’s corner on 31 minutes was glanced slightly wide from aerial force Ryan Arthur.
On 43 minutes, the best chance of the half to make it two was squandered to the crowd’s astonishment by Neale. A 40-goal crown jewel of Rathfriland’s Amateur League and Intermediate Cup exploits last season, when McArthur and Halliday interlinked by the right byline to cut the ball back, the marksman was five yards out with the goal gaping. The net was expected to bulge but for a player who has touched gold with most of his contributions, he placed it over the bar to let Foundry off the hook.
After two additional minutes, referee Morgan signalled an end to the half’s proceedings.
Marksmen live for goals, and Neale knew he had some atonement to do having not added his name to the scoresheet in that half.
Small wonder that he was on such fine form during the second period, then.
James Taylor had been called into action for the first time on 52 minutes, as a volley from distance by a Foundry player brought out a save one would expect the experienced former Glenavon goalkeeper to make.
Not 60 seconds had passed before Bangor doubled their advantage. No prizes for guessing who had got on the end of it.
A nice piece of link-up play by the Seasiders in the final third culminated in a sweet lay-off by Halliday from right channel, finding Neale in the box. You would scarcely believe he had missed such a glaring opportunity not long earlier based on the composure with which he stroked home, side-footing on his stronger peg low beyond Sloan and into the bottom right.
While the ball’s bobble off the grass didn’t help the Foundry man as he got low with arms outstretched, the one-touch take from Adam was simply sublime to provide Bangor with a cherished cushion. It was his sixth successive goalscoring game – now a standalone high having shared the record with Arthurs on five before kick-off – and a seventh finish in that span, with Halliday’s first assist of the season teeing up his effortless finish into the net.
Four minutes later, another first-time assister helped Neale on his way to a second goal.
A quickly-taken throw-in from John Boyle kept this attack’s tempo alive, putting it into the fan favourite frontman – Neale missed the first meeting due to his successful participation in the UEFA Regions Cup – who then turned to face and fire a 25-yard piledriver into that same bottom right.
While a small deflection helped it on its way, if you thought this was a player easily deterred by setbacks, you were to prove sorely mistaken.
“In the end, it’s a 90-minute game, isn’t it?”
Adam Neale
0-3 the scoreline read, which allowed Feeney to avail of his two further permitted subs when Seanna Foster and O’Kane were respectively replaced by Ally Ferguson (58’) and Aaron Harris (66’). The latter proceeded to thread a beautiful clipped ball behind that supplied Beattie’s run on 70 minutes, though the stand-in skipper’s cross to the opposite right-hand post could not be finished by Neale.
On 76 minutes, Neale supplied the threatening McArthur, and the 23-year-old Bangor off-season returnee was just off-target in his attempt.
Now it is up to me to describe what happened next.
A 77th-minute Foundry corner from the right was whipped in after Taylor made an astute near-post save. The subsequent flick-on from a home head was goal-bound, it was deflected onto the post and 38-year-old Taylor recovered in time to pick up the rebound. Hands on heads from red shirts on the pitch, and sighs of relief from those of an away persuasion.
That’s a pretty unusual goal celebration. As Taylor prepared to restart, the ref stayed put and pointed to the centre circle. After a solid 20 seconds of confusion, when the Seasiders pack realised what had been awarded against them, they surrounded Morgan and gave their differing accounts of what they had seen.
It was given as a goal, and for a team who have taken such pride in keeping shut-outs all season, this was one peculiar way to lose what would have been a 13th clean sheet out of 16.
Nevertheless, it seemed to spur Foundry on, and in the last 10 minutes, they pushed on with their spirits revitalised.
But Bangor were to have the last laugh. On 88 minutes, an awaited first hat-trick in yellow and blue for Neale was topped off.
Beattie played the long ball over the top for Halliday, who had timed his run to perfection as the hosts’ offside trap faltered, and the striker who had a brace of goals in the first bout had a brace of assists in the rematch. He bore down on goal, teed up his strike-partner by the right-stick and with that, Neale secured the match ball. He becomes the first player to bag a trio of goals in the same game this season.
Nerves could definitively be allayed. The game petered out until the final few peeps of the referee’s whistle as both sides knew their fates.
1-4. Another very professional day’s work, another win – a seventh on the spin – secured, another piece of cup joy.
It means a date with Ballymacash Rangers awaits in the semi-finals, which take place next week at Crusaders’ Seaview ground. Bangor will be hoping lightning does not strike twice at the north Belfast venue, when the Yellows were on the wrong end of an agonising and deflating eight-goal extra-time thriller against Newington this time last year.
Neale is certainly not short of confidence going into the challenges to come. His treble props him up to nine goals in just six matches, averaging a goal involvement (including a couple of assists) at a rate of about every 44 minutes since making his debut.
“How are you?” he asks me after the game. “Yep, I’m all good, and you?” I reply.
“Can’t complain,” he answers back. Great fella.
On bouncing back after his late first half miss, he never had any doubts that this would be the case.
“I had to (make up for it)… aye, but in the end, it’s a 90-minute game isn’t it?”
| Steel and Sons Cup | Quarter-finals (12/11/22) | ||
| Albert Foundry | 1 | 4 | Bangor |
| Ards Rangers | 1 | 1* | Dunmurry Rec |
| Crumlin United | 1 | 2 | Immaculata |
| Crewe United | 0 | 2 | Ballymacash Rangers |
Quick to acknowledge Halliday’s contribution to getting him on the scoresheet, he added: “I was thinking ‘leave it, leave it’… I wasn’t expecting Michael to cut it back, I thought he was going to go himself, big man deserved it to be fair.”
It was that 94th-minute leveller off the bench against Ballymacash at the Bluebell that set up his stall in a Bangor shirt. After they concurrently defeated Crewe United 0-2 to book their ticket in a first-ever Steel last-four showdown, a game that featured three red cards, Neale can influence once more against the Cash to claim a spot in the decider at the promoted Lisburn outfit’s expense.
“Absolutely,” he says on the importance of setting up that Shore Road showdown.
| Steel and Sons Cup | Semi-finals | |
| Bangor | v | Ballymacash Rangers |
| Dunmurry Rec | v | Immaculata |
The good times roll on at Bangor. Strabane Athletic await in the Intermediate Cup second round at Clandeboye Park this Saturday, and then it is that all-third-tier tie for the festive showpiece every club at this level wants to be in.
With Neale and Arthurs on 20 goals combined after their strikes on Saturday, they will undoubtedly be crucial.
Meanwhile, Bangor Reserves were back at Clandeboye Park and claimed a 2-1 win over their Knockbreda equivalents. Jordan Hughes was in action as he continues to work his way back to match fitness, and the ex-Dundela man marked the scoresheet along with CJ Sullivan to help Davy Downes’ team prevail.
The Yellows move onto 15 points from a possible 18, level with Warrenpoint and Ballymacash at the table’s summit after the Point prevailed in a direct clash of the two at the Bluebell.
In the rest of the Academy action, there were wins for the Under-18s, who were conquerors of Harland and Wolff Welders for the second time in the space of a few days, and the Under-14s, who saw off Willowbank 3-0. The Under-13 SBYL side played out a goalless draw against St Malachy’s O.B. Cosmos, the Under-17s prevailed over 1st Bangor 3-0 while the Under-15s were defeated by Rosario.
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