Match Reports – 12/03/22

17 Mar Match Reports – 12/03/22

Posted at 18:48h in General News by

Cookstown Youth 2 – 2 Ballyvea 

(Ballyvea won on pens)

Quarter Final of the Mid Ulster Youth League Knockout Cup pitched Cookstown up against a very talented Ballyvea side. It was Cookstown who had the better of the possession in the early exchanges with Corrigan and Davidson linking up well and causing the Ballyvea defenders some concern. Despite Cookstown’s slight dominance, a goal for Ballyvea came against the run of play as they went 1-0 up from a corner. Cookstown Youth had their equaliser within minutes though, scoring from a corner themselves. A beautifully flighted ball in from Hampsey was met bravely by the head of Compton, leaving the keeper no chance.
Few changes made at half time disrupted the rhythm to Cookstown’s build up play but once the new additions settled into the game they started posing more of a threat on the Ballyvea goal. Mc Cabe and Martin registering shots on target before Timoney scored a great goal to make it 2-1. Loughran fed ball into Timoney’s feet, he then spun the defender before firing into top right corner of net.  Just as it looked like the lads were seeing out the game comfortably, with little danger or threat coming from Ballyvea, their number 10 picked up the ball out wide on the left and dribbled past two defenders before rifling a right footed effort into tip left hand corner, leaving O’Hagan no chance. A great individual goal. The referee blew the final whistle a few minutes later and it was straight to penalties and unfortunately the Ballyvea keeper made a terrific fingertip save in one of the four Cookstown penalties taken to send his team through to the Semi finals. (Ballyvea won 5-3 on pens)
TEAM: RUAIRI O’HAGAN • ANDREW KEANE • TYLER ROGERS • MATTHEW COMPTON • CONALL HAMPSEY • SHEA CONWAY • JONAH DAVIDSON ©️ • JAMES CORRIGAN • KORI HALLIGAN • ORANN TIMONEY • HAYDEN MARTIN • JOSHUA MC CABE • AODHAN LOUGHRAN • CALUM WALSHE • ADAM MC ALEER 

CYFC u16s 4-0 Lurgan Town

Cookstown progressed to the next round of the Knockout Plate on Saturday after a comfortable win over Lurgan Town.

With several players missing the home side were keen to start well and this lead to early pressure on the Lurgan back line. Shaun Og Shields was wreaking havoc down the right wing early on and after 5 minutes he fired a dangerous ball across the goal for Aren Kudrenko to fire into the roof of the net at the back post. This goal gave Cookstown the confidence to push on for more. The midfield pair of Jamie Kerrigan were using the ball well and working extremely hard for the team. Cookstown added a second when Jamie Kerrigan slipped a ball in behind for James Bell who made no mistake, firing past the keeper first time. Lurgan’s main threat seemed to be down the right wing but the back line of Leon Martin, Benas Keturakis, Peter McLean and Jamie Barry were aggressive and dealing well with any pressure. Cookstown took a three goal lead when after a Lurgan attack, Ethan Gordon reacted quickly, gathering the ball and quickly playing a ball in behind for James Bell to latch on to before lobbing the keeper nicely.

At half time Cookstown were encouraged to keep doing what they were doing but also to improve on their shorter passes in the final third. Aaron Whitten provided a lot of energy and made several driving runs before linking well with Ciaran Devlin to create some good chances. Shaun Og Shields went close with a header from a corner, while James Bell and Ciaran Devlin also had efforts on goal. The fourth goal came when a good ball in from Leon Martin picked out James Bell who fired home to complete his hat trick. Cookstown were able to see out the rest of the game comfortably with Peter McLean and Benas Keturakis both putting in very strong and dominant performances at centre back.

Team: Ethan Gordon, Jamie Barry, Peter McLean (c), Benas Keturakis, Leon Martin, Aren Kudrenko, Jamie Kerrigan, Jude Murphy, Shaun Og Shields, Ciaran Devlin, James Bell, Aaron Whitten