Lisburn Rangers boss Hugh Sinclair disappointed at Irish Cup exit but full focus on Northern Amateur Football League campaign
Lisburn Rangers chief Hugh Sinclair had mixed emotions after their Irish Cup journey came to an end at the hands of Limavady United.
The Amateur League side had a memorable journey to the fifth round, including beating Dergview on penalties in the previous round, but any further progress was halted by the Roesiders at the Coleraine Showgrounds.
Two goals in each half ultimately did the damage for Limavady as Mikhail Kennedy, Rodney Brown, Philip Lowry and Lewis Tosh all found the back of the net.
A vocal travelling support did have something to cheer late on when Anthony Burns finished off a quick counter-attack for a consolation goal.
Speaking after the game, Sinclair was left to rue the goals his side conceded.
He said: “In regard to how it panned out, glad it's over and we can look to get back to league affairs, to be honest with you.
"Listen, we come up here and I don't know how many gears Limavady had left in them, maybe they had one, two, maybe three.
"But I thought we were below par in regard to what we've been doing recently.
"First hour was disappointing...the goals we conceded were disappointing.
“We always knew it was going to be a difficult tie for us but a little bit disappointed in the manner in which we've exited the cup.”
Whilst Sinclair wanted a better performance from his players, he now knows they can concentrate on league duty, where they top the Northern Amateur Football League.
"Absolutely, that's the main objective,” he stated.
"Prior to coming up here and I said to the boys in the changing room, they now have to set it down and pick up where we left off.
"Hopefully there's no interference from this. We could have done things better, but didn't.
"We'll take it on the chin, Limavady deserve to go through to the next round.
"They're a team flying high at the top end of the championship. In regard to losing to them, it's by no means a shame in regard to not performing and going out at this stage.
"But fair play to them, fully deserved on the day and hopefully they can go a round or two beyond this."