Victory over Bann the turning point for victorious Garvey

The club had previously lost 2-1 to the Havelock Park side, who at that stage looked favourites to retain their league title. However, Garvey had other ideas and their storming victory four days before Christmas was the perfect festive present for the new boss. “We went into that game knowing a point would be sufficient for Banbridge,” he recalled. “If we hadn’t won that match, we would have been hoping for other results to go our way. We know how good Banbridge are so we weren’t expecting them to drop many points after Christmas. We knew we had to win that match but to score the goals that we did was a real bonus. “We lost to Banbridge early on in the season but we knew that we would have another game with them later in the season.” In the end, that victory proved the decisive one in their quest for the title and from then on, it was a march toward the top as Garvey smashed each and every opponent that stood in the way until Tuesday night’s victory over Raphoe saw them over the line. “We’re absolutely delighted,” he said. “Banbridge set a very impressive points and goals tally a few weeks ago when they finished their league campaign so that gave us a target to aim for. “It’s an excellent achievement. It’s reflective of the strength of the whole club rather than just the first team. “The team has changed since last season. We lost a few of the older guys and we now have four or five schoolboys in the 16 every week. We have more young guys in the Ulster and Ireland U16 and U18 panels so hopefully more of them will be coming up to the first team in the near future. “Games against all of the top five teams are tough and we got some very good results against them this season.” Greg Thompson netted his side’s 100th goal of the league campaign on in Raphoe and their final tally of 101 was outstanding, although Lutton was keen to stress their performance at the other end of the pitch was equally as impressive. “We scored a lot of goals this season, conceded the least and our head-to-head receord against Banbridge would suggest that we have played as well as anyone this season,” he said. “It’s not something we had looked at at the beginning of the season but later in the campaign, we knew goal difference would play a huge part in deciding the league and so we had to chase it. It’s a credit to the boys who contributed to that, not just up front but all over the pitch. “ Key to scoring those goals, of course, was top scorer Timmy Cockram, who has over 50 for the season himself. Lutton said: “Timmy has been so valuable in scoring goals and also in the leading the team in training and in matches. An international player of that class is brilliat to have in the team.” Garvey will be persented with the trophy after Saturday’s IHL Pool A game against Cookstown.