Cookstown crush Donaghmore III to progress

Cookstown 3-19 Donaghmore 0-2

COOKSTOWN cruised into the quarter finals of the Tyrone Junior Championship when they experienced little difficulty in seeing off the challenge of Donaghmore at Stewartstown on Friday evening.

The Father Rocks got into their stride straight from the start and in truth this game was already decided by the end of the opening quarter as they had raised seven white flags to their opponents none. Man of the match John Gilmore bagged a late first half goal and that essentially was that, the experienced attacker helping himself to 3-4, all from play.

There was only ten minutes gone on the clock and already Callan Kelly, Matthew Carberry (2), Michael McElhatton and Gilmore had notched points. In the 11^th minute Cookstown almost got in for a goal when Gilmore cut inside but his rasping shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Donaghmore keeper Christopher Hughes.

It was to be a sign of things to come though as the game progressed. Full back Matthew McNeill burst forward to fist a point before a superb pass from Kelly found Conor O’Hare who unselfishly offloaded for Gilmore to find the bottom corner of the net. In first half injury time Gilmore and O’Hare tagged on points before Donaghmore finally opened their account via long range free from keeper Hughes.

Ahead by 1-12 to 0-1 at the break there was to be no let up from Cookstown as Ruairi Mullan and Carberry added early second half points before a Conor McGinn free in the 38^th minute proved to be Donaghmore’s last score of the night. McElhatton converted a mark before he played the ball to Conor O’Neill who in turn found Gilmore for a 48^th minute goal. At this stage it was a matter of what the winning margin would be as Cookstown took the opportunity to run their bench.

McElhatton and Kelly tagged on points before a miserable night for Donaghmore got worse in the 57^th minute when substitute Sean McCall was straight red carded for a foul on McElhatton. The impressive O’Neill got forward again to split the posts for a second time before that man Gilmore had the final say in injury time. Substitute Nathan Connolly had his shot well saved by Hughes but Gilmore reacted first with predator instincts to palm the rebound to the net from close range to complete the scoring.

The Scorers

Cookstown

John Gilmore 3-4, Matthew Carberry 0-5 (3F), Michael McElhatton 0-3 (1M), Matthew McNeill 0-2, Callan Kelly 0-2, Connor O’Neill 0-1, Conor O’Hare 0-1, Ruairi Mullan 0-1

Donaghmore

Christopher Hughes 0-1 (F), Conor McGinn 0-1 (F)