St Mary's entered the lion's den to face league leaders SOPFC at Lenadoon on Saturday hoping for a peformance that would dent the title aspirations of their opponents.
With SOPFC undefeated in their league campaign to date, most observors reckoned that the result was a mere formality and this was reinforced by the fact SOPFC defeated St Mary's by five goals in their previous cup clash a mere fortnight ago but only the brave few held out any hope of St Mary's taking anything from this encounter.
Matthew Shannon played a fine through ball to strike partner Eoin O'Reilly in the opening minutes but the Plunkett keeper was quick off his line and thwarted O'Reilly from giving St Mary's a shock lead.
Ten minutes in and St Mary's defender Oisin Donaghy misjudged the bounce of the ball but the Plunkett striker snatched at his shot and dragged the ball narrowly wide of the target.
Play moved from end to end with midfield star Eoin McNicholl a constant threat on the right hand side for St Mary's with his strong running, speed and close control. Conor Bannon then tried his luck with an effort from 25 yards forcing the keeper to get down smartly to make the save.
At the other end the formidable St Mary's central defensive pairing of Aidan Begley and Patrick Ross restricted Plunkett to long range efforts but with the West Belfast side starting to find their range the woodwork came to St Mary's rescue on three separate occasions as the first period ended goal less.
The St Mary's management team tinkered with the formation at the break resulting in Eoin McNicholl dropping back into a more defensive role alongside full backs Oisin Donaghy and Cormac Morgan but this was to prove a master stroke as McNicholl excelled in breaking up numerous Plunkett attacks.
Plunkett played some excellent football as the second half resumed and proved just why they were sitting at the top the table with nearly half of the league campaign completed but St Mary's goalie Oliver Breen was decisive when called upon and at times seemed to be playing with superglue stuck to his gloves as he never missed a catch all day.
St Marys' Conor Bannon came close to breaking the deadlock on fifty minutes with a super run but just couldn't squeeze the ball beyond the goalie but the opening goal wasn't too far away as barely two minutes later Eoin O'Reilly played a ball through to Matthew Shannon on the left and birthday boy Shannon accelerated past several challenges before firing St Mary's ahead.
The spectators had barely time to catch breath as St Mary's increased their lead when some Mark Davey trickery outwitted the Plunkett defence and Sparky's finish was clinical leaving Plunkett with a mountain to climb.
But Plunkett continued on the attack and pulled a goal back through their skipper from the penalty spot with seven minutes remaining following a push in the penalty area.
A last ditch McNicholl block tackle prevented a certain Plunkett equaliser in the dying minutes while at the other end the energetic Bannon broke through the Plunkett defence but failed to find the finish as the Glengomley lads held out for a memorable victory.
Manager McNulty was delighted at the final whistle and commented that she was 'proud of the team's committed display and the self belief amongst the squad was the key to today's victory'.
