On a wet soggy morning at Beechway the u14s welcomed Maiden City on what turned out to be a fantastic game of football.

It was the Cookstown boys who started brightly and with just 2 mins gone Daniel Beatty latched onto a loose ball just inside the box and he made no mistake giving the goalkeeper no chance to put cyfc 1 up. This however forced a reaction from the visiting team and they where putting the Cookstown defence under pressure with their direct play and soon it payed of when they hit 3 goals in quick succession to take a 3-1 leed. The Cookstown boys continued to work hard with Isaac Kelso and Cillian Mcrory going close but it was that man again Dan Beatty who latched onto a through ball from Donnelly and he showed great composure giving the goalkeeper no chance with a fine finish leaving it 2-3 at half time.

The second half started with both teams cancelling each other out and the cyfc back 4 of Lennox ,Long, Mckenzie and Price where equal to everything that Maiden City were throwing at them ,while at the other end Beatty, Mcrory ,Mcelhatton and Mulgrew where working hard to get cyfc back on level terms . Finally the breakthrough came on 50mins Once again Beatty set off on a run down the right channel and found Mcelhatton 10 yards out and he hit it first time with the ball going high into the net to the delight of the home crowd.  The visitors weren’t finished yet and took the leed once again on 60mins when cyfc failed to clear a ball from a corner giving Benjamin Patterson no chance in between the sticks. Once again 5mins later Cookstown responded once again when Donnelly found Beatty who played a lovely ball for Brendan Mulgrew to finish high into the roof of the net .

Last 5 mins Cyfc took the game to Maiden City and a free kick by Donnelly was met by Jay Wilson 6 yards out which agonisingly hit the cross bar and out for a goal kick. However this was to be Cookstowns day Kelso found man of the match Beatty down the left who fired a great ball across the box which evaded everyone, Mcelhatton retrieved it and rounded the oncoming goalkeeper and he squared it to Mulgrew who rifled the ball into the back of the net to the delight of the players , coaches and cyfc supporters on the sidelines . This was a great advert for youth team football very well done to both teams and good luck to Maiden City with the rest of your season . Next week for cyfc u14s is a home fixture against Oxford United in the Northern Ireland cup.

TEAM:- B. Patterson, B. Lennox, E. Long, H. McKenzie, J. Price, A. McElhatton, J. Donnelly, I. Kelso, B. Mulgrew, C. McCrory, D. Beatty, J. Wilson, C. Talbot, J. Ferson, J. Patterson