Super Sarsfields rattle the Rocks

Drumragh 2-10  Cookstown 1-7

THERE will be no dream double for Cookstown this season as they came up a distant second best to the super Sarsfields in the Junior Championship semi-final at Omagh on Friday evening.

Goals in either half from Niall McCarney and sub Daniel O’Neill were what stamped Drumragh’s ticket through to the decider in a fortnight’s time.

The Fr Rocks have already lifted the League crown, winning every game in the process, but by the end of the first quarter at ONeills Healy Park they trailed 1-4 to 0-1, and that 100 per cent record looked in real peril.

They just had no answer to the pace, tenacity and poise of the likes of Niall McCarney, Sean McGale, Patrick Colgan, Eoin Montgomery and Tommy Murphy as they were led a merry dance, and while Cookstown did mount a sterling fightback in the third quarter, reducing the deficit to a single point at one stage, Drumragh ultimately ran out deserving winners.

A sweet strike over the bar from Tommy Maguire straight from the throw-in immediately signalled the Sarsfields intentions and in a breathtaking opening assault, Malachy McManus, McCarney and Murphy again each registered quality scores.

A seventh minutes black card for Danny McElhatton didn’t help Cookstown’s cause, though Michael McElhatton eventually knocked over their opener, while John Gilmore fisted the ball against the base of the post, latching onto Matthew Carberry’s skier.

James Colgan in the Drumragh posts then had to react sharply to prevent a backpass from colleague Colgan finding his own net, but on the quarter hour mark there was a goal at the other end, Shane Cleary and McManus combining to put McCarney in the clear and he drilled in a shot which went in off the near post courtesy of a slight deflection.

The gap was stretched to seven when Cleary took Murphy’s pass in stride and fired over, and while Ruairi Mullan and Connor O’Neill both got on the board for Cookstown, Murphy’s third quality conversion of the half had Drumragh ahead 1-6 to 0-3 at the break.

The Fr Rocks needed a lift and after a Carberry pointed free, they got it when his shot drifted towards the edge of the square and midfielder Connor O’Neill was on hand to fist across keeper James Colgan into the net.

With Michael Oscar Devlin also rifling over the gap was suddenly down to one.

Drumragh regrouped as Sean McGale and Ronan Maguire showed admirable composure to find the range, but with the outcome in the melting pot, mistakes crept into their game. Cookstown sought to take advantage as Carberry was twice more on target (one free and one with the fist) but down the straight Drumragh came on strong again.

Following a Kian Murphy pointed free, they caught Cookstown on the hop with a devastating counter-attack in the last minute, sub Daniel O’Neill embarking on a mazy fifty metre run, rounding the keeper and coolly beating the backtracking defender on the line.

Sensing their hopes quashed things unravelled for the Rocks in the closing stages with sub James McGahan and Ruairi Mullan sent-off, the former for a straight red, while O’Neill picked up a black card.