Killymoon Rangers Reserves exited the O'Hara Cup in disappointing fashion at the hands of old foes Tandragee at Fairhill, Cookstown.

Despite the absence of Cameron Stewart in attack, the Reserves were confident of getting past their Armagh rivals to reach the quarter final stages of the League Cup competition especially with a home draw and an eight match unbeaten run to boot. This optimism looked realistic when Mustafa Kaplan was fouled inside the Tandragee area to give the homesters a penalty after just five minutes, duly despatched by captain Kyle Smith. But ten minutes later an injured Ryan Glasgow played on the Tandragee striker as the rest of the Reserve's defence stepped out leaving Steven McKernan no chance in nets. Ten minutes later a floated cross from the left had Killymoon's defence all at sea with an unmarked Tandragee player drifting in at the back post to drive home their second goal and take a deserved lead.

Marty McCormack then replaced the injured Glasgow in midfield. To their credit the men in sky blue lifted their heads to try and get back into the game. Nigel Campbell in particular drove at the Tandragee left back time and time again delivering a couple of half chances for strikers Johnny Scott and Mustafa Kaplan. In fact if Kaplan had just been a little more aware on one occasion he could have played Scott through but shot instead. But it was Tandragee's bullish central midfielder and pacey winger that dictated the shape of the game up to half time as Tandragee pushed for their third.

Into the second half Tandragee continued to dominate possession and chances with the entire Killymoon team out of sorts. The best defence in the league looked shaky under the wet conditions with the midfield unable to get to grips with the game. In a reshuffle manager Andrew Warwick pushed Conal Kilpatrick into midfield and replaced Mustafa Kaplan with Peter Sloan creating a three pronged attack to try and retrieve the game. Gavin McGuckin then replaced Jeff Hall in midfield. McCormack and Scott both had half chances blocked but as the 'Moon pushed for the equaliser Tandragee looked dangerous on the break. In the dying minutes the inevitable happened when Tandragee's flying left winger broke clear to seal a deserved victory.

A bad day at the office for Killymoon Reserves especially after last week's fantastic victory against Laurelvale, a side better than the Tandragee side they lost to today. A tough away trip to Hanover in the league awaits next Saturday and managers Fluke and Warwick will be looking for a much better team performance with this hopefully just a blip in what has been a terrific season to date.

TEAM: Steven McKernan, Kyle Smith, Conal Kilpatrick, Mark Freeburn, Brian Smith, Nigel Campbell, Jeff Hall, Ryan Glasgow, Jason Devlin, Mustafa Kaplan, Johnny Scott.
Subs:Marty McCormack, Peter Sloan, Gavin McGuckin
Tandragee Rovers Website match report