Peel hold onto Junior Cup, despite Langridge heroics

Favourites Peel retained the JCK Junior Cup, beating St Mary's 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw after extra-time at Ballcloan, Ramsey.

It was a tight, competative contest, with the midfields cancelling each other out, but the outstanding feature was the unanimous choice of stand-in St Mary's goalkeeper Peter Langridge as man of the match.

Langridge, the St Mary's first team manager, is the Island's most capped player and highest scorer.

But he pulled off some cracking saves, performing throughout like a regular keeper, to keep his side in with a chance until the last kick.

The pick of the outfield players for St Mary's were Keith O'Sullivan and Sean Moffatt, who marshalled the defence extremely well, while for Peel striker Daniel Bell and centre-back Kenny Walker caught the eye.

The closest anybody came to scoring was when Darren Smethurst of St Mary's rounded a fullback and shot just wide, towards the end of extra-time.

Peel went 2-0 up in the shoot-out, when their opponents failed to convert either of their first two attempts. Peel then missed, but the next four kicks found the target, which saw the westerners 4-2 winners.

The cup and medals were presented by James Cubbon, the owner of sponsors JCK Limited.