Olympic come back from 4-0 down to win

Cookstown Olympic had another home match last Saturday and it was against local rivals Killymoon Rangers Reserve and after a classic encounter Olympic claimed a 5-4 victory.

The local derby against a generally youthful Killymoon side saw them shock Olympic by taking a four goal lead with strikes in the 3rd, 8th, 10th and 20th minutes.

Olympic’s static start coupled with high pressing from Killymoon left the home team with an uphill struggle to get something from the match.

The comeback started on 24 minutes when Ryan Devlin put a ball over the Killymoon defence for Ryan O’Neill to slot home Olympics first of the match. Connor O’Reilly then hit a post after 38 minutes while Ryan Devlin headed home a corner on 44 minutes to reduce the deficit to four two at half time.

In the second half Olympic played Killymoon at their own game playing high up the field and pressing quickly and this led to Olympics third goal after 46 minutes when a back pass from Killymoon saw a free kick which Ryan O’Neill blasted home from 10 yards.

Two minutes later and the sides were level when an Eamon McElduff flick was headed on by Ryan Devlin and Connor O’Reilly nipped in to beat the Killymoon keeper. Olympic could have taken the lead 5 minutes later only for a finger tip save from the Killymoon keeper.

Both sides now went for the winner with Olympic having a chance on 60 minutes which went wide and then after 75 Olympic keeper Jamie O’Neill finger tipped a free kick on to the bar but Killymoon headed over the bar from the rebound.

Olympic’s experience then began to become more telling over the tiring Killymoon midfield and with five minutes left Ryan O’Neill got the ball to Niall McKenna and he slipped it into the run of Liam Hoy whose initial shot was parried but he reacted first to tap home the loose ball.

Olympic: Jamie O’Neill, D McCabe, L Mullan, E McElduff, M O’Hare, L Hoy, C O’Reilly, R Scullion, Jonny O’Neill, R Devlin and R O’Neill. Subs S Conway, E McSloy and N McKenna.
This week it will be another home match for Olympic when they take on league leaders Ballyclare Comrades Reserves with the match taking place at Beechway with a 2pm kick off.

Training will now continue on the synthetic pitch at MUSA each Thursday from 7pm sharp.

The Lucky 4 Lottery numbers for Saturday 12th January were 6, 9, 13 and 23. There were no winners who matched four numbers for the £375 jackpot or 3 numbers. The jackpot will now be £400 for next week’s draw and tickets are available from any committee or team member.

Cookstown Olympic will be running a last man standing competition which will start with the Premiership matches on the weekend of Saturday 19th January. Entry fee will be £10 and more details are available
on the notice board section of the club website.