Augher Stars reach last eight of Mulhern Cup for first time in club’s history

AUGHER Stars created history on Saturday afternoon by defeating third division title rivals Castlederg United 3-0 to reach the last eight of the Mulhern Cup for the first time.

Goals by Peter Tierney, Cormac McKenna and Jody Farrell fired Stars into the quarter-final draw to continue what has been an impressive season thus far for Johnny Winser’s men.

Augher have already secured promotion to Division Two and on the evidence of this performance they’ll prove tricky opponents for whoever they are paired with in the last eight.

As for United, Saturday was a bitter-sweet day for the men from north Tyrone. While bitterly disappointed to exit the Fermanagh and Western’s premier cup competition after providing a shock in defeating first division Enniskillen Athletic in the first round, it wasn’t all bad news the Derg men.

Drumquin United’s surprise 2-0 defeat to Ardstraw Reserves means that, like Augher, United have also gained promotion to the second tier.

All that has to be decided now is which of the two teams will go up as champions.

If this performance is anything to go by Stars will be confident that they can go on to finish the job in lifting the Brendan Keogh Memorial Cup.

Augher boss Winser hailed the second 45 minutes against the Derg men as “the best half of football his team had played all season”.

“This was a game I was a bit worried about to be honest but we were outstanding today. It was without doubt one of the best performances this season,” he said

“I had a few words with the players at training this week. The more we won last week I wasn’t happy with the attitude and in fairness to the players they gave me the response I was looking for.

“It was a great result and it’s the first time to reach the quarter-final. It’s another great achievement for the club. It was the third time we have played Castlederg United this season and this was our most convincing performance against them.”

Having accounted for Lisnaskea Rovers in the first round, Stars began in positive fashion and took the lead when Tierney rose highest to head home an excellent corner by Travis Charlton.

Despite having the better of things that’s all Augher had to show for their efforts at the interval but the homesters put that right in the second half.

Following a short corner by Matthew McSorley, Niall Skinnader skipped past his marker to whip over a pinpoint delivery which McKenna controlled before hammering past goalkeeper Dylan Nicholas on the half volley.

The ever-improving Jody Farrell then completed the scoring by finishing with aplomb from the edge of the area after excellent play by Charlton.

United, too, had their moments, particularly in the first half when Stars stopper Rory McElroy denied Dylan Russell while visiting captain James Harpur failed to hit the target with a header.

Harpur however admitted that his team were second best on the day.

“Augher were better than us on the day,” he said.

“In open play there was little between the sides but we conceded from three set-pieces. That’s where the damage was done.”