Match Reports – 07/09/24

08 Sep Match Reports – 07/09/24

Posted at 21:32h in General News by

CYFC u13’s 3 – 1   Markethill

A new season and a new challenge for the Town lads having made the jump up to 11 aside. After a decent preseason the boys have settled well into 11 aside. The lads have been put into the Premiership due to a good season last year, where every game looks like it will be tough!

We made the short trip to Drumcoo to play a big physical side in Markethill.
Our lads wasted no time and went 1 up after 5 minutes with a nice finish from Zack Nellins, hit well from just outside the box. Some great play up the left seen Jamie Loughran go racing into the box only to be brought down by the defender, easy one for the ref, penalty Cookstown.
Up stepped Cillian Conway and slotted it home calmly, 2 nil.
Markethill were not lying down by any means and created chance after chance, but some good defending and goalkeeping kept the score 2 nil at the break.
A few changes at half time and Markethill were definitely the stronger team for a while but our lads dug in when needed, a few fine saves by new goalkeeper Daniel Pavel kept the score the same.
A nice run down the right by Kyle Kilgore and a nice pass into Cameron Donnelly seen him score and make it 3 nil.
All credit to Markethill, they never gave up and got a goal back right at the end, final score Cookstown 3, Markethill 1.
Man of the match today was an easy one, Reece ‘Reeco’ “Hughes, as solid a performance as you’ll see, won every tackle and passed out from the back really well. And a well done to Daniel Pavel and Kyle Kilgore, both joining us from the colts making their debuts today, Daniel kept us in the game with some smashing saves, and kyle set up the 3rd goal before suffering a nasty head injury and had to come off. Good day all round, 3 points and up the road, next up is Rathfriland next Friday.
Squad: D. Pavel, C. Devlin, K. Kelly, L. Montgomery, R. Hughes, C. Donnelly, C. Conway, N. Young, D. Kelly, Z. Nellins, J. Loughran, J. Donnelly, K. Kilgore, C. Ohagan, C. Sherman

CYFC u15’s 3 – 0 Riverdale

Cookstown Youth MUYL U15’s got their league campaign off to a great start, with a 3-0 home win vs Riverdale. Lads opened the scoring after 3 minutes with Martin finishing first time, after a sublime through ball from Davidson. Cookstown dominated the remainder of the half but could not get that elusive 2nd goal despite the best efforts of Rogers, Ward & Mc Gurk.

Second half began how it finished, with Cookstown having majority of possession and pinning Riverdale back. Fifteen minutes into the 2nd half and Clements, making his competitive debut for the club, rifled in a thunderous free kick from the edge of the area. The 3rd goal came 5 minutes later, Compton rising highest at the back post, from a Conway corner, to finish the game off as a contest. Boys stood up to the physicality throughout the match, whilst still playing possession football. Great result but even better performance.

Squad: B.Neville •L.Compton •L.York •M.Compton •E.Mc Elhatton •T.Rogers •B.Dobson •H.Martin •J.Davidson •C.Mc Gurk •M.Ward •S.Clements •S.Conway •C.Bell

P.O.T.M – L.York

CYFC u17’s 1 – 5 Banbridge Rangers

The 17s kicked off their season with a trip to Cheney Park to face Banbridge Rangers. A new look side with a few new faces took to the field and took the game to their counterparts. Cookstown dominated for much of the first half but ultimately it’s all about putting the ball in the back of the net. Great chances fell to Gibson who’s shot came off the post across the line and back out, Talbot also found himself bearing down on goal but he pulled his shot wide of the target. The back 3 of Mcmurdie ,Ferson and Russo were dealing with everything, accompanied by price and Patterson as the wing backs. The midfield 3 of Donnelly ,Wilson and Mota were working hard in an out of pocession. 10mins before the break a costly mistake allowed their striker to roll the ball into the back of the empty net and 5 mins later it was 2-0 Cookstown giving away a free kick on the edge of the box forcing a good save from Jorge but not reacting quick enough to the rebound. Just before the break Talbot had another great chance from 6 yards out just failing to get his head to a great ball from the left. 2-0 at Half-time.

2nd Half and much the same as the first with Cookstown controlling pocession but just lacking that killer instinct in front of goal , Cookstown however continued to play out from the back at every opportunity with all the boys comfortable on the ball . A long punt up the field this time caught the Cookstown defense out and their striker finished well to all but put the game to bed.
Mcelhatton and Cassidy came on to freshen things up and almost immediately Mcelhatton found himself bearing down on goal but couldn’t beat their gk on this occasion.
Good work from Gibson found Mcelhatton 8 yards out and this time he made no mistake 3-1 , unfortunately for Cookstown pushing forward they were hit with 2 more goals on the break to end the game 1-5.

This is a game we can look back and wonder how we ended up losing, loads of pocession and chances created but just failing to put the ball in the net. Some of the football played today was superb from this new group and we can take lots of positives from that.

Squad: Jorge ,Ferson, Mcmurdie, Russo, Patterson, Price, Mota, Donnelly, Wilson, Gibson, Talbot, Mcelhatton, Cassidy

CYFC u18’s NL 3 – 0 Top Of The Hill Celtic

Last Friday evening Cookstown Youth u18’s NL travelled to the Waterside Shared Centre to face Top Of The Hill Celtic in their second fixture of the NIYFA. After a close run encounter and win against derby rivals Moyola manager Nigel Donnelly was confident of a positive performance and result in their second outing.

The White’s started brightly against the home side creating several half chances for strikers McGurk and Burns. Several cross field balls from defender Burton were proving particularly effective with McGurk’s movement causing panic in the Top of the Hill defence. On 20 minutes Top of the Hill struck the Cookstown crossbar from a set piece and forced a good save from keeper Nathan Ferson 3 minutes later. The half finished 0-0.

Quinn replaced Grimes on the left into the second half before McGurk beautifully latched unto a Burton through ball to open the scoring on 45 minutes. Celtic began to crumble 5 minutes later when Burn’s unleashed an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net from 25 yards. Cookstown were in control with Cichero and Jamie Ferson replaced by Russo and Loughran respectively.
Despite a few rough tackles by the home side Cookstown showed real steel and resilience and scored their third with a deflected effort from Burton to run out deserved winners. A home tie to Culmore Youth up next.

Squad: N. Ferson, H. McKenzie (c), L. McMurdie, J. Burton, J. Ferson, J. Donnelly, C. Cichero, R. Grimes, J. Colvin, E. McGurk, R. Burns, J.Quinn, C. Loughran, G. Russo.