Laxey secured the remaining place in this season's Manx Car Store Railway Cup semi-finals at the Bowl on Saturday. but only after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over a battling Union Mills side.

Johnny Palmer's boys required only a single point to book their place in the yuletide cup competition and made a lively start to the contest, but the final ball constantly let them down.

Then, with 15 minutes played, a corner from man of the match Adam Mealin caused havoc in the Mills box, before Ben Wosser fired an effort inches wide of the opponents’ goal.

But the Ballaoates side gradually worked their way into contention and the lively Kyle Uren blazed their best opportunity wide of the target.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Freddie Quilliam was forced to turn a Mealin effort onto a Millers upright.

As the first half drew to a close, it was Ryan Kelly's visiting side that saw more of the ball, with Tyler Hughes proving a handful for the Laxey defence.

The Miners once again made an impressive start to the second half and Quilliam was forced into a superb save to deny a well-struck effort from Joe Walters.

With the introduction of Dominic McHarrie-Brennan, the Millers stepped up the pace, and Laxey custodian Aiden Pickering was forced to touch a free-kick onto his own crossbar.

Then, as the game drifted into added time, Mealin delivered an in-swinging corner which Brody Patience converted during a goalmouth scramble to score the decisive goal in Laxey’s favour.

It wasn’t long before referee Neshko Marinov blew the whistle for full-time before the Millers were able to restart the game, confiminh Laxey’s victory and a place in the Railway Cup.

COLIN MAGEE

Following the conclusion of Saturday’s matches, the draw for the Manx Car Store Railway Cup was made and produced two intriguing matches which are scheduled to take place this coming weekend.

The first semi-final sees last year’s runners-up Peel entertain Laxey at Douglas Road.

The westerners were beaten 3-2 after extra-time by Ayre United in the 2024 edition despite Tomas Brown scoring a 90th minute equaliser, therefore the Sunset City side will be hoping to go one better this time around.

Similarly, Laxey qualified for the Railway Cup last year but were also beaten 3-2 by Ayre in the last-four.

The two sides have a contrasting history in the competition, with Peel having won it a whopping 22 times, their most recent being in 2018-19 when beating St George’s 3-2 thanks to goals from Lee Gale, Daniel Bell and Tom Wood.

Laxey have won the Railway Cup three times in their history, most recently in 2006 when also defeating St George’s 1-0 thanks to Rob Sorby’s 87th minute penalty.

They were also runners-up the following season when they lost narrowly 1-0 to this weekend’s opponents Peel, with Neil Birchenough scoring the only goal of the game.

The other semi-final this weekend pits this season’s surprise package, Onchan, against runaway Premier League leaders Corinthians.

Both sides have tasted success in this competition, with Onchan winning the trophy way back in 1938-39 when stunning the previously dominant Braddan 2-1 in the final, while Corinthians won it in the recent 2017–18 and 2020–21 seasons with 4-0 and 1-0 successes over St George’s and Rushen United respectively.