Mixed bag of results for CYFC

CYFC Colts 5 St Marys 3

Bloomfield 2 CYFC 12s 1

CYFC 13s 3 Magherafelt Sky Blues 1

CYFC 15s 0 Linfield 3

Crusaders 4 CYFC 16s 0

CYFC 14s and 18s games were both postponed

U11s 5-0 Portadown

The game started with the Cookstown side getting caught cold at the back and they could have been two down in the first five minutes, only for good keeping by Eoghan Donnelly.

Once they settled, they started to put pressure on Portadown down both the flanks from Zach Ferson and Terry Devlin.

Portadown did exploit Cookstown’s midfield at points, but it was the home side’s Caleb Rob and Dominic O’Neill who dominated and provided goals for Nathan Murray, Benedito Tereso, Stewart Wylie, Terry Devlin and Zach Ferson .

It was a good team effort against a development side .

Colts 5-3 St Mary’s

Cookstown started brightly and opened the scoring on two minutes through Peter Bell, but unfortunately, a defensive error caused the game to be pulled back to 1-1.

Bell then put Cookstown back in front, before St Mary’s scored twice to leave Cookstown 3-2 down at haltime.

Cookstown started back on the front foot, having plenty of chances before Ben McNally scored, then taking the lead through Nathan Bartley.

The turning point came five minutes from the end when Ryan made a brilliant save and, from the resulting corner, Cookstown broke away and Terry Devlin scored the clincher.

12s 2-1 Bloomfield Youth

After a couple of weeks of rescheduling, the young Sizzlers finally met Bloomfield of Belfast in the NIBFA Cup at the Olympia Leisure Centre’s 3G pitch and the Cookstown 12s emerged victorious.

Manager Gerry Quinn was equally tentative and excited facing a South Belfast Youth League leaders who were undefeated.

Cookstown created two great chances in the opening ten minutes, Lee Glasgow seeing his shot rise over the bar from 15 yards and Luke Patterson screwing his left footed shot just wide from a great position.

Jamie Marlin saw a great left footed drive from distance rise over the bar, before Bloomfield made keeper Jamie Campbell pull off a good save with their first opening.

Bloomfield’s striker then outmuscled and outpaced Cookstown’s defence, only to snatch at his shot and drive over the bar, before Iarlaith Donaghy sidestepped a strong challenge on the edge of Bloomfield’s area, burst past their centre half and drove home a powerful drive to take the lead on 24 minutes.

At the start of the second half, with the defence of Patterson, McLean, Kenning and Bigger in control and Mackle and Marlin pulling the strings in central midfield, Glasgow went close again before Marlin forced the Bloomfield keeper into another good save.

The injured Glasgow was replaced by Thomas Mackle, who instantly impacted the game on 40 minutes.

His powerful run and cross from the right met Mackle’s perfectly timed run, allowing him to bury the second goal from ten yards at the back post.

Five minutes later, Bloomfield were back in the game when Cookstown failed to clear their area, with the midfielder giving Campbell no chance.

Mackle then saw a sweet free-kick fall agonisingly wide before substitute Joseph Donnelly’s snapshot crept wide with the keeper in no-man’s land and Donaghy, superb throughout, almost finished Bloomfield off only to hit the side netting.

Cookstown’s magnificent defence dug deep to withstand pressure in the last ten minutes record their first ever NIBFA Cup fixture victory.

Team: J.Campbell, B.Patterson, R.McLean, W.Kenning, D.Bigger, I.Donaghy, J.Marlin, T.Mackle, S.Murphy, L.Glasgow, L.Patterson, T.Mackle, H.Wilson, C.Bigger, S.Black, J.Donnelly.

13s 3-1 Sky Blues

Cookstown took the lead with an inswinging free-kick from Sam Hardy causing panic and Chris Boyd scoring an easy goal.

The Sky Blues drew level with keeper Afonso Tereso at fault, getting beaten at his near post.

Cookstown should have had more first half goals, Ryan McFarland forcing a good save from the keeper and Boyd chipping his effort just wide.

The second half saw Magherafelt take control, but Cookstown defended resolutely to prevent their opponents creating clear-cut chances.

Cookstown took advantage and McFarland burst into the space and held his nerve to slot past the keeper, and they sealed victory moments later as Robert Turkington latched onto an error and slotted into the bottom corner of the net – a deserved win after so many near misses.

Squad: Afonso Tereso, Robert Turkington, Kaelum Irvine, Jack Turkington, Nathan Connolly, Sam Hardy, Ryan McFarland, Chris Boyd, Marty McCracken, Ryan Murphy, Tyler Anderson, Caolan Argue, Brendan Davey, Jake Crooks, Mark Espie, Thomas Heenan

15s 0-3 Linfield

In the Northern Ireland Cup at MUSA, Linfield were always going to be a formidable side to overcome, but the Cookstown lads were well up for it.

The first half was a fairly even contest, Cookstown matching Linfield but failing to really make incisive chances. Linfield created a few chances but Brian Kennedy was equal to them.

The Cookstown back four of Luke Johnston, Gary Adams, Joshua Adams and James Donnelly were all having a great game.

Unfortunately, the midfield were having problems, Nathan O’Neill not seeing much of the ball on the left, James Kilpatrick and Deane Kane having quieter games.

Cookstown started the second half still on terms well, O’Neill having a chance blocked on the line and another going begging at the far post.

From a throw-in, Linfield swept the ball into the box, and a free man at the back post slotted home and, within a few minutes, a cross out of nothing dropped into the net to put Linfield two up.

Forwards Ryan Campbell, Fergal Devlin and Josh McAdoo played the hearts out, but it was just one of those days, with Kennedy making a number of fine stops, including a great high diving save to his right to turn the ball over the crossbar.

Cookstown pushed on, but they were caught in a classic counter-attack with the ball cleared from the Linfield box, knocked on and the forward lobbed the advancing keeper to make it 3-0.

All the subs were given a run out against a Linfield team without four NI Schoolboys.

Squad: Kennedy, Johnston, G Adams, J Adams, Donnelly, Kane, Kilpatrick, O’Neill, McAdoo, Campbell, Devlin. Parkinson, Glasgow, Glackin, McWilliams, McCulla,

Development Centre

Cookstown Youth FC’s Developement Centre on Friday had over 125 taking part. The Centre continues this Friday 6.30-8pm.

We are very much a family-orientated Club and welcome all sides of the community, both players and coaches; so, if you are interested in your child coming, or fancy getting involved in coaching, contact CYFC mobile 07771 195393.

Fixtures for Saturday

11s and Colts, both TBC

Hillsborough Boys v 12s, League, 11.15am, The Rec

13s v Warrenpoint, League, 11am, Cookstown

Coleraine Academy v 14s, League, 11am, Coleraine

15s v Portadown, League, 11am, Cookstown

Salway Stars v 16s, NIBFA Cup, 11am, TBC

18s v Markethill, League, 10am, Markethill.