Cousins combine for six goals to help side progress in Irish Cup with 8-1 victory

Former Newry City and Glenavon forward Stephen scored four times while cousin Michael, who has previously spent time on the books at Portadown, contributed two from midfield in the 8-1 victory over Cookstown Youth.

All six of those goals came in a second-half blitz at Crystal Park as Premier Intermediate League outfit Banbridge set up a second round clash with fellow third-tier side Moyola Park.

"It's a good start,” said Stephen. “It's four more goals towards the target that I've set for myself for this season.

"It's always nice to score but everyone is chipping in which is great. I normally set myself a target of 25 and I got 26 last year, so I'll just stick with 25 again this year!

"Our dads are brothers and we were actually at Newry City together for a bit and we were on the fringes of the team.

"He went to Portadown and I came back to Banbridge and then he came back too. We've been playing together since.

"We joke with each other now and again because he wants penalties off me but he's never going to get them! He wants to outscore me too no doubt."

The victory also helped another cousin, Mark Kerr, kick life off as Banbridge Town manager on a winning note following his arrival from Drumaness Mills.

Kerr has handed McCavitt the the captain’s armband for the 2023/24 season and they’ll be in cup action again on Saturday when they host Premier Intermediate League newcomers Coagh United in their BetMcLean Cup opener.

"There's a bit of family going throughout the club now!” he added. “He's the same with everyone and I'm nothing special when it comes to the team.

"We joke about but when it comes to the serious stuff he's tough on me at the same time.

"Mark came to me at the start of the season asking if I wanted to be captain and I said yeah. It's a privilege.

"There's a lot more to it than you realise but I took it with open arms and it's a big opportunity for myself.

"Over the last few years the captaincy has went to different people but Mark said we'd staple the captaincy down this season with me as captain and Conor Downey as vice.

"Everyone should be getting involved and it's not just about me."

McCavitt was part of the Banbridge side that reached the 2019/20 Irish Cup sixth round under current Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King with their run ended by a 3-0 defeat to Coleraine.

They also played against Glentoran in the 2021/22 BetMcLean Cup and 25-year-old McCavitt is hoping for something similar this season.

"We're playing Coagh so that'll be a more difficult game than last week,” he said. “They've just come up into our league and we're looking to show them that it's a lot harder than they think.

"It would be brilliant (to have a cup run). If you go out of the cup competitions early you miss it and it can be hard to get a good rhythm going.

"It's good to get a good cup run going and a few years ago we got to go play against Coleraine in the Irish Cup which was great.”