Ulster Semi Final Booked for Fr Rocks

Sunday 15.12.2024

Academy Football

Ulster Minor Tournament Quarter Final
Cookstown 0-19 Mayobridge 1-11

Cookstown Fr Rock’s will take on defending champions Four Masters from Donegal in the Ulster Semi Final following an extra time victory over Down champions Mayobridge in St Paul’s this afternoon.  Played on an excellent pitch the Cookstown men outscored their opponents 0-5 to 0-1 in the first period of extra time to set the platform for what would prove to be a comfortable victory on the scoreboard at least.  It was far from that.

Cookstown got off to a poor start conceding a goal inside the opening two minutes.  Maybridge man Daire O’Keeffe racing into the box to turn home a fist pass to the net.  Eoin Long responded with a point from a free in the 5th minute before Corey Clerkin clipped over the first of his points two minutes later.  By the quarter hour mark the Fr Rock’s men had the contest back to a single point.  Two Conall Sheehy points from play helping their cause.

Mayobridge however had the three point advantage restored by the 19th minute as Corey Clerkin hit two frees for the Down side.  Cookstown responded with a free from Eoin Long and Conall Sheehy’s third point of the game.  Darragh Polland completed the first half scoring in the 28th minute to leave Mayobridge 1-4 to 0-5 up at the short whistle.  Cookstown accumulated a staggering eleven wides during the first half.

It took until the 39th minute for the scoreboard operator to be troubled as Eoin Long scored from a free.  Six minutes later he added another free to level the game ahead of a 46th minute point from Canice Cullen point to edge Cookstown into the lead for the first time.  An Eoin Long point from play and a Lorcan McMurray point also from play meant that Cookstown led 0-10 to 1-14 by with eleven minutes to go.  Michael Lennon stretched the advantage out to four points in the 50th minute and it looked like the Fr Rock’s men were striking for home.

Mayobridge had other ideas and despite the fact that they hadn’t scored in the second half they eventually began the fightback with a Patrick Woods free with seven minutes to go.  Two minutes later Cookstown’s lead was down to two point as Daniel Carr hit a point from play.  With four minutes to go Patrick Woods landed another free to leave the Down side a point behind.   And it was Woods again with another free in the 59th minute that levelled the contest.  The last four minutes of the half were chaotic.

Patrick Woods scoring from play to put Mayobrige ahead in the 60th minute before Eoin Long landed a free to level it.  A superb Conor Colhoun point from play looked certain to win the game for Mayobridge in the 62nd minute but Cookstown worked the ball up the field and Lorcan McMurray kept a calm head to convert a free to send the contest into extra time.  Full Time Score – Cookstown 0-13 Mayobridge 1-10.

The first period of extra time was dominated by the Tyrone men.  Karl Wawrynkiewicz opened the scoring in the 64th minute. By the 67th minute Cookstown were three up thanks to points from play by Eoin Long and Lorcan McMurray.  By the 69th minute Karl Wawrynkiewicz and Eoin Long had added another two points from play with the final score of that half coming from a Corey Clerkin free.  The only score of the second period of extra time came from a Conall Sheehy point from play.

Final Score – Cookstown 0-19 Mayobridge 1-11

Cookstown; Sean Og Quinn, Shane Corrigan, Darragh McHugh, Charlie Mulligan, Luke Neeson, Karl Wawrynkiewicz (0-2), Michael Lennon (0-1), Yasin Baba, Conall Sheehy (0-4), Chris Ward, Lorcan McMurray (0-3, 0-1f), Charlie McElkearney, Daniel Ward, Eoin Long (0-8, 0-5f), Jack McElhone

Subs Sean Devlin (0-1) for Daniel Ward, Charlie Hawker for Chris Ward, Matthew McCrellis for Charlie Hawker

Referee – Colm McDonald (Antrim)