Late goals seal McGarrity Cup for Sigersons

Strabane  2-11 Cookstown 0-13

STRABANE secured the Joe McGarrity Cup on Friday night when two late goals saw them get the better of Cookstown at Carrickmore.

Kelvin Nelson and Mark Roarty were the Sigersons goal scorers to open up a winning lead although they were indebted to keeper Eoin Haire who pulled off two great saves in injury time to keep the Father Rocks at bay.

This was a second title of 2025 for Strabane following on from their success in the Ulster Junior league when they also beat Cookstown in the decider and no doubt these two sides will be the ones to beat once the league campaign begins.

It was a game that took a while to really get going as both sides struggled to make an impact. With both defences well on top the respective forward lines were well bottled up.

With eighteen minutes gone both teams had managed just a point each but the fare then improved and it was 0-5 apiece by the break. The quality in the second half was a lot better with man of the match Oran McGrath and Karol Wawrynkiewicz to the fore for their respective sides with a number of eye catching scores.

Cookstown had the wind at their backs in the first half but a Wawrynkiwicz point in the opening quarter was all that they had to show for their efforts. Gary Quigg had split the posts for the Sigersons before the game began to open up.

A superb two pointer from McGrath got things going with Wawrynkiwicz responding in kind at the other end of the field.

The Cookstown centre half forward then landed another fine two point score but it was Strabane who closed out the first half on top. Kelvin Nelson reduced the deficit for the Sigersons before Haydn McNamee had the final say of the half to leave it 0-5 apiece at the short whistle.

Strabane had the elements in their favour for the second half but it was Cookstown who were out of the traps the quickest. Substitute Nathan Connolly edged the Father Rocks in front before full forward Keegan Hampsey split the posts to make it a two point game.

Cookstown were going well at this stage and Niall McMurray then left three between the sides. McGrath was beginning to have a greater influence on proceedings and he opened Strabane’s second half account with a brilliant two point effort from out on the left wing.

Seamus Glackin then got his name on the scoresheet for Cookstown going into the final quarter but McGrath then fired over his third two pointer of the contest and when the same player then raised a white flag the Sigersons had their noses in front with ten minutes left to play.

Wawrynkiwicz then drew Cookstown level before a second Connolly point saw the lead change hands again. There was a good tempo to the game now and that man McGrath hit the target once again to leave it all to play for.

Extra time looked a certainty at this stage but Strabane had other ideas as they continued to take the game to Cookstown. With time running out a goal was always going to be a crucial score and when Strabane struck for two quick goals from Nelson and Roarty won them the game.

To their credit Cookstown threw everything at their opponents in injury time to try and rescue the situation but all they could muster were points from Niall McMurray and Wawrynkiwicz with Connolly being denied twice by fine saves from Strabane keeper Haire.

Scorers
Strabane: Oran McGrath 0-7 (3 x2pt), Kelvin Nelson 1-1, Mark Roarty 1-0, Gary Quigg 0-2, Haydn McNamee 0-1

Cookstown: Karol Wawrynkiewicz 0-7 (2x 2pt), Nathan Connolly 0-2, Niall McMurray 0-2, Keegan Hampsey 0-1, Seamus Glackin 0-1

Teams

Strabane: Eoin Haire, Ruairi White, Adam Duffy, Jamie Hughes, Joe Bishop, Ryan McElroy, Ethan Corry, Oran McGrath, Mark Roarty, Kyle Morrison, Gary Quigg, Daniel McHaghney, Kelvin Nelson, Oran White, Haydn McNamee. Subs: Martin Mongan for Duffy, Gary Rouse for McNamee, Niall McGinty for McHaghney.

Cookstown: Eoghan Donnelly, Darragh McHugh, Matthew McNeill, Ronan Donnelly, Michael Oscar Devlin, Luke Cullen, John McIvor, Connor Donnelly, Yasin Baba, Callan Kelly, Karol Wawrynkiewicz, Matthew McCann, Seamus Glackin, Keegan Hampsey, Niall McMurray. Subs: Nathan Connolly for Devlin, Matthew Eastwood for McCann

Referee: Niall Conlon, Moortown