'It's about that risk and the reward' - Queen's University boss James Lavery puts Irish Cup senior lesson at Carrick into big-picture perspective
Dreams of a cup upset may have ended in the harsh reality of a 5-1 defeat but Queen’s University boss James Lavery accepted gains beyond Saturday’s senior lesson.
Carrick Rangers claimed control from the first whistle as Premiership experience proved decisive in the face of a Queen’s side still adjusting at league level to a first season in the second tier with a squad sprinkled with youth.
Lavery has his own memories of that special Irish Cup magic thanks to time at Queen’s during the 2020 defeat of record winners Linfield.
However, Carrick’s end product to early dominance delivered goals for Adam Lecky and Aidan Steele before Ronan Young’s free-kick cut the gap at the break.
Joe Crowe, Matthew Snoddy and Danny Gibson each found the net after the interval to leave Lavery looking for future positives from the disappointment of the day’s defeat.
“Obviously the scoreline in the end is disappointing,” he said. “But I thought, for us, it was just about trying to stay in the game as long as possible…we did that up until the third goal goes in.
“Once the third goal goes in I think it really killed the game, it was a bit beyond us at that point...then the last 20, 25 minutes just fizzed itself out.
“We knew it would have been difficult, at the same time it was a good opportunity for us to get some debuts and things...so we took the risk with it as well.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for some young boys to go and get a bit of experience at a really good level, so we've done that.”
Lavery could only praise the gap in class between top-flight Carrick and Championship newcomers Queen’s.
“A lot of credit goes to Carrick, I thought they were very, very good,” he said. “We knew they had a squad full of brilliant experience, really good players and obviously one of the best managers around.
“They are big and, again, that's something that we worked on during the week in terms of their physicality.
"We know they score a lot of goals from crosses, set-pieces.
“But whenever you've got the likes of big Luke (McCullough) up and (Adam) Lecky and Billy Joe (Burns) and all those guys attacking the ball, it's very difficult.
“So it's just trying to be as physical as we could, but we knew we were never going to be able to match that completely...even teams in the Premiership will struggle with some of those players in the box.
“The first goal in the second half, we could have made it a lot more nervous for them...but it wasn't to be.
"We'll take our learnings from that, work on it…we have boys that are 17, 18, making debuts and we know we're going to be up against it. As a club, it's about that risk and the reward.”
CARRICK RANGERS: Scott Pengelly, Michael Place, Billy Joe Burns, Danny Gibson, Adam Lecky, Luke McCullough, Aidan Steele, Benjamin Buchann-Rolleston, Joe Crowe, Paul Heatley, Matthew Snoddy.
Subs: Lorcan Donnelly, Jimmy Callacher, Jack Boyd, Ryan McKay, Codey Hames, Eoghan McCawl, Matthew Olosunde.
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY: Daniel Collett, Jack Overns, Dan Mairs, Tommy Smyth, Christopher Middleton, Ben Mulgrew, Matthew Hughes, Ronan Young, Michael Withers, Daniel Dillon, Ambrose Ajala.
Subs: Neil Shields, Jonny Mairs, Aaron Keenan, Charlie Chapman, Luke Doran, Luke Wilson, Andrew Gawne.
Referee: Tony Clarke.