Results
Drumkeen Utd 3 3 Swilly Rovers
Fanad Utd. 1 4 Cockhill Celtic
Derry City Res. 2 0 Bonagee Utd.
Letterkenny Rovers Finn Harps Res.
Reports
All Square in Drumkeen
Drumkeen Utd. 3
Swilly Rovers 3
Swilly Rovers were the visitors to St Patricks Park for this Thursday evening game. Before the match started a minutes silence was observed in memory of the late Willie Mc Laughlin who sadly passed away last week. The game got off to a lively start with four goals in the first half hour, Drumkeen went ahead after five minutes when Eunan Kelly headed home a Darren Cassidy corner. This was Drumkeen’s second corner and, by that stage Swilly had also won a free kick and corner which were both taken by Laurence Toland and both easy for Paul McAuley to deal with, The home team then had a couple of more chances with Conor Carlin and Ronan Coyle both shooting wide. Swilly were level after twelve minutes. Laurence Toland went down under a challenge from Ryan Gildea and referee Paul Duddy awarded a penalty. Calvin Mooney took the spot kick which hit the cross bar and bounced down into the net. Shortly after that at the other end, Carlin had an effort saved by John Roulstone. Swilly then took the lead after Twenty minutes, Paul McAuley took a free kick which had been awarded for offside and unfortunately for him his free went straight to Calvin Mooney who fired it home for his second goal of the game. Mooney grabbed his third goal on the half hour after he was played in by the impressive Laurence Toland. The play was switching from end to end and Gary Patton headed over at the other end, Drumkeen finished the half strongly forcing Swilly to concede several corners.
They started the second half in the same fashion and had efforts from Carlin and Cassidy which both went over the bar and Darren McCready forced a save from Roulstone. All their pressure paid off in the 52nd minute when Gary Patton pulled a goal back when he scored from 12 yards after the ball had been laid back to him. Swilly who had been very lively in the first half seemed to run out of steam in the second half and Drumkeen had the best of the last half hour although Laurence Toland did have an effort that went wide on 75 minutes. With 15 minutes left Mickey Rogers had used up all his 3 allowed substitutes. One of those who came on was Gavin Reilly and he was involved in the equaliser with less than 10 minutes remaining he surged forward and passed it to Gary Patton on the right wing, Patton’s cross found Conor Carlin who slotted it home for the equaliser. That set it up nicely for the last few minutes but neither side could find a fourth goal to claim the three points. Paul Duddy blew the final whistle and both teams had to settle for a point. This wasn’t really a three all thriller but it was a good enough game to watch. Both managers will probably be disappointed with the result as a point was not much use to either team in their quest to close the gap on Cockhill, The games don’t get any easier for Drumkeen as their next one is away to Cockhill.
DRUMKEEN- Paul McCauley, Mickey Carrol, Benny Bonner, Ryan Gildea, Eunan Kelly, Philip Whyte, Darren Cassidy, Darren McCready, Conor Carlin, Ronan Coyle, Gary Patton. SUBS -David Shovlin on for Whyte 63mins, Brian Mc Grory on for Bonner 63mins,Gavin Reilly on for Gildea 70 mins, Peter Mc Namee, Justin Deasley,
SWILLY- John Roulstone, Darren Dunworth, Gareth Colhoun, Marty Boyce, Dylan Hegarty, Ryan Shields, Jordan Toland, Marty Mc Daid, Michael Mc Hugh, Laurence Toland, Calvin Mooney, SUBS- Ryan Mc Daid on for Ryan Shields, Cathal Diver on for Mc Hugh 80 mins, David Aina, Mark Wilson.
Champions Collect another 3 Points
Fanad Utd. 1
Cockhill Celtic 4
League leaders Cockhill Celtic overcame 10 man Fanad United in an entertaining game at Traigh-a-Loch. The visitors started the stronger and took the lead in the 10th minute. Garbhan Friel latched on to a long ball before cutting inside Declan Sweeney and powering his shot into the far corner of the net. The goal seemed to spark Fanad into life and they started to apply pressure themselves. This pressure paid off in the 20th minute when Oisin Hasset broke through the defence only to be taken down by Gavin Cullen. Cullen was certainly lucky to only receive a yellow card for the incident as Hasset was through on goal. Brian McVeigh subsequently gave Cullen no chance with his penalty. Fanad had young keeper Shane Graham to thank for keeping the scores level at the break when he made 2 excellent saves in the 32nd and 35th minute. First from a Malachy McDermott shot and then from a Mark Moran shot.
The second half started in a similar fashion with Cockhill having most of the possession while not creating any clear cut chances. The game changed in the 60th minute when James McCahill was adjudged to have fouled Mark Moran in the box. McCahill was then shown a straight red card for arguing about the decision. Garbhan Friel made no mistake with the penalty sending Graham the wrong way. 5 minutes later Friel should have completed his hat-trick only to see his shot blocked on the line by Declan Sweeney. A minute later Glenn McNulty blocked Gerry Gill’s shot on the line. Cockhill increased their lead in the 79th minute when James Bradley finished to the net after Graham had saved Friel’s shot. Garbhan Friel wasn’t to be denied his hat-trick though and in the 85th minute he finished into the bottom corner after Graham had made another good save. In the end Cockhill’s vast experience told but Fanad will point to the fact that Cullen could have been sent off earlier in the game and that might have affected the outcome. Best for Fanad were Shane Graham, Glenn McNulty and Declan Sweeney. Best for Cockhill were Mark Moran, Gerry Gill and Garbhan Friel.
Fanad United: Shane Graham, Conor McGonigle (Keelin McElwaine 72), Daire McDaid, Kevin Murray, Declan Sweeney (Shay Durning 85), Glenn McNulty, James McCahill, Jordan McBride, Adam Serrinha, Oisin Hasset ( Conor Matthewson 77), Brian McVeigh
Cockhill Celtic: Gavin Cullen, Kieran McLaughlin, Peter Doherty, Johnny Halvin, William O’Connor, Derek Doherty (Aidan O’Donnell 77), James Bradley, Malachy McDermott (Michael Noone 50), Mark Moran, Garbhan Friel (Gerard McLaughlin 85), Gerry Gill
Ref: P Coll
Letterkenny Beat Harps to go 3rd
Letterkenny Rovers 3
Finn Harps Res. 1
Letterkenny Rovers title ambitions remain on track following a hard earned 3-1 victory against a strong Finn Harps eleven at Leckview Park on Sunday afternoon.
It was the home side who made a cracking start to the game netting twice in the opening 7 minutes. The game was barely 2 mins old when Chris Flanagan was robbed of possession by Oisin McMenamin down the left hand side. McMenamin powered into the box before crossing to the far post to the in rushing Kenny Doran and he got the final touch from 3 yards out despite the close attention of a Harps defender.
In an exciting start Harps could have equalised just a minute later when Jason Quinn had to be at his best to deny Dean McConnell whose header was superbly tipped over by the young net minder. Rovers had Harps reeling yet again after only 7 minutes. The lively Kenny Doran did well to nip in and win the ball before being fouled by Aaron Scanlon. Doran got injured in the impact and had to be substituted 4 minutes later. Former Harps player Johnathan Minnock stepped up and scored the free from 18 yards catching Conor Winn out at the near post.
The visitors did boss the rest of the first half with Matty Henry and Graham Fisher dominating midfield and would have caught the eye of the watching Harps management duo of Ollie Horgan and James Gallagher. After good efforts by Micheal Doherty and Darragh Black it was Henry who brought Harps back into the game. After some neat play involving Fisher, Black and Henry it was Henry with a sweet shot from outside the box which left keeper Quinn stranded in the Rovers goal. Packie Mailey was very commanding at centre half and Rovers created nothing more of note until the 43rd minute when Darren McElwaine had a header from substitute Matty Harkins cross just graze the topside of the crossbar with goalkeeper Conor Winn in no man’s land.
The second half was a more even affair and with some dangerous set pieces Graham Fisher and Henry both went close with headers from superb deliveries by Micheal Doherty. Letterkenny came close on two occasions when Matty Harkins low shot was superbly tipped around the post by Winn on 64 minutes and a minute later Stevie Okakpo’s rasper of a shot was destined for the top corner only for Winn to show great athleticism to deny him. Lettterkenny brought on ex-Harps player Stephen O’Donnell on 70 minutes and it took no time at all for him to make an impact. His super cross from the right hand side following a quick throw in found the head of Matty Harkin who made no mistake from 5 yards out on 76 minutes. The game fizzled out after that and with Harps having no substitutes Letterkenny began to control proceedings although Micheal Doherty did force a quality save from Quinn with only 4 minutes left which could have made the game interesting if he had scored
Next up for Harps is a meeting with Derry on Tuesday night while Letterkenny are back at Leckview for a meeting with Fanad Utd on Wednesday.
Letterkenny Rovers; Jason Quinn, Barry O’Donnell, Neil Lloyd, John Doherty, Johnathan Minnock, Glen Gallagher, Aaron O’Hagan, Stevie Okakpo, Kenny Doran, Darren McElwaine, Oisin McMenamin. Subs; Matty Harkin for Doran 11, Kevin McGrath for O’Donnell 45 Stephen O’Donnell for McElwaine 70.
Finn Harps Reserves; Conor Winn, Christopher Flanagan, Aaron Scanlon, Packie Mailey, Graham Fisher, Matty Henry, Dean McConnell, Darragh Black, Conor McBride, Shane Buchanan, Micheal Doherty.
Ref;Tommy McAree
Derry Keep Up the Pressure
Derry City Res. 2
Bonagee Utd. 0
Derry City Res. kept the pressure on league leaders Cockhill on Saturday afternoon in Buncrana after a hard fought 2 nil win over a good Bonagee outfit. Raymond Foy and Ryan Curran scored the goals that keep John Quigg’s team tucked in 3 points behind Cockhill with a game in hand as the league heads for the halfway stage.
Fixtures
Tuesday, May 13th at 7pm
Finn Harps Res. v Derry City Res. Ref. V. McLaughlin
Wednesday, May 14th at 7pm
Bonagee Utd. v Swilly Rovers Ref. P. Duddy
Cockhill Celtic v Drumkeen Utd. Ref. S. Toner
Letterkenny Rovers v Fanad Utd. Ref. P. Coll
Sunday, May 18th at 2pm
Bonagee Utd. v Cockhill Celtic Ref. T. McAree
Derry City Res. v Letterkenny Rovers Ref. S. Toner
Drumkeen Utd. v Fanad Utd. Ref. V. McLaughlin
Swilly Rovers v Finn Harps Res. Ref. P. Coll
4 Lanterns Ulster Senior League Table 11.05.14
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