Cookstown trio help NI to UK success

THREE Cookstown men were part of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service’s soccer team, which won the UK Fire Service Cup.

Cookstown Youth stalwart, Barrie Kelly, won the title for the third time, while goalkeeper Luke Donaghy excelled throughout the tournament and Daniel O’Neill was also part of the NI squad which deservedly annexed the prestigious cup at Sutton United’s Gander Green Lane in south London where they beat their host’s, London Fire and Rescue Service, 4-2 in a keenly fought decider.

In the semi-final, NIFRS defeated Greater Manchester 3-1, thanks to goals from Chris Murray (2) and Andy Forsythe at Bangor’s Clandyboye Park, having eliminated the West Scotland at the quarter-final stage 2-1 courtesy of goals from Anto Byrne and Alan Strain. Before the business end of their campaign, NIFRS also defeated Durham and Darlington 7-2 in Belfast and then Merseyside to reach the last eight.

But the final had a bit of everything with six goals and two red cards but on the day it was the travelling Northern Ireland team, who clinched victory thanks to goals from Chris Murray (2), Anthony Byrne and Adam Wright.

“It was brilliant!,” beamed Kelly, who admits his hat-trick of medals could signal the end of his participation in the event as the years march on.

He continued: “It was great to go over and beat them on their own patch and that’s probably what I’m most proud of, winning it over there.

“The first time I won it back in 2015 we played in Falkirk’s Stadium, which was very good but it was a 3G pitch, so it was nice to play on a really good grass pitch at Sutton.

“That was my third time winning it and I’ve enjoyed it, but it might be my last because time catches up with you!”

Northern Ireland’s recent success of four titles in the last 10 years has certainly raised the profile of the NIFRS soccer players, many of whom never got a look-in to the UK team for European competitions before their first triumph in 2015.

However, after they thumped London in the semi-final 9-0 at Seaview, that changed, although not immediately.

“After that – they were seen the best team in the UK at the time and had eight players in the UK team, while we had none,” Kelly explained. “We were expecting them to be good, they had a wee lad up front who was on the books of Arsenal at a stage, they were a decent side, but we beat them 9-0.

“And then we went on to win it and a couple of our players, who would be quite opinionated, asked why none of us where in the UK team, while eight of them were.

“We won it again the year after that and then they started asking boys and I was asked, there were six of us all together and we all turned them down!

“It didn’t go down too well but we did pave the way for others to do it [in the years after]. It was all overdue but someone had to go through the motions to make it happen I’m just glad I was part of that.”

As well as opening the door to further international representation for fire fighters in Northern Ireland, the team’s success has also led to the formation of an all-island side who have taken on and defeated England in the recent past.