Group A
This group provided a lively and entertaining afternoon of football at Cockhill, in the opening game on pitch 1, Clonmany Shamrocks got off to a good start when they defeated near neighbours Rasheney by 5 – 0. Michael Devlin scored the only goal of the first half and got his second after the interval. The other three scores came from young guns, John Mc Laughlin, Kevin Mc Carron and Daniel Mc Laughlin.on pitch 2 Carrowmena defeated Buncrana 8-2 Paul Duffy (2), Ryan Killen (2) Mathew Henry (3) and Jonathan Mc Laughlin were Carrowmena’s scorers with Alan Fletcher and Mickey Fury getting Buncrana’s goals, the second game on pitch 1, Illies Celtic started brightly also and ran up an 8 – 2 score against Rasheney. They had the points wrapped up by half time when they were already 5 – 0 up courtesy of goals from Paddy and Aiden Doherty, Kevin O’ Donnell, Mark Mc Daid and an own goal. In a more even second half Rasheney scored twice through John Doherty (JE) and John Grant but further goals from Andrew Mc Laughlin, Kevin O’ Donnell and Eamon Hegarty emphasised the winner’s superiority. While on pitch 2 Clonmany came from behind to defeat Carrowmena 3-1 James Henry gave Carrowmena the lead but goals from Paddy Doherty (2) and Jason Devlin gave Clonmany the points,The third game on pitch 1 between Buncrana and Illies was highly entertaining game Aiden Doherty and Sean Coyle gave Illies a 2-0 lead, Kieran Mc Daid pulled one back for Buncrana before Aiden and Paddy Doherty made it 4-1 to Illies at half time, Aiden Doherty increased Illies lead but goals from Robbie Fullerton and Stephen Mc Hugh made it 5-3, Aiden Doherty again increased Illies lead, Buncrana hit back with goals from Mc Hugh and Mc Daid to make it 6-5, Paddy Doherty put Illies 7-5 up Mc Daid closed the gap again to 7-6 and that’s how it finished, and to add to the excitement Buncrana missed 4 penalties. On pitch 2, Rasheney third match saw them a single goal behind at the break when Carrowmena’s Ryan Killen hit home on the stroke of half time. Rasheney’s John Doherty (JE) equalised early in the second half and Brian Doherty had them in front only for Carrowmena to finish strongly and score five goals courtesy of Michael O’ Doherty, Jonathan Mc Laughlin, John Mc Geady and a double from Matthew Henry for a 6 – 2 final scoreline.The forth game on pitch 1 Buncrana came from behind to beat Clonmany 5-4 John Mc Laughlin (2) Jason Devlin and Daniel Mc Laughlin with Clonmany’s goals, Harry Forshaw (2) Robbie Fullerton (2) and Alan Fletcher for Buncrana, on pitch 2, With both teams coming from good wins in their previous matches the Carrowmena v Illies game looked set to be keenly contested with the odd goal or two separating them at the end. However, Matthew Henry had other ideas and in a personal triumph for him he netted seven times in a 9 – 3 victory for Carrowmena for whom Paul Duffy and Andrew Mc Laughlin also scored with Paddy Doherty grabbing two and Sean Coyle adding the final goal for Illies. In the final game on 1, There was nothing at stake for either side in the Buncrana v Rasheney match and in a see-saw battle that saw the lead change on a number of occasions Buncrana prevailed on a 5 – 4 score line. Scorers for Buncrana were Greg Bradley, Harry Forshaw, Stephen Mc Hugh and a brace from Paddy Mc Myler while Brian Doherty, John Davey, John Doherty (JE) and John Grant replied for Rasheney. While on pitch 2 Clonmany took on Illies with Clonmany needing to win by 9 clear goals or Illies needing to win by 14 clear goals to overtake Carrowmena this was a big ask for both teams, Clonmany lead 4-0 at half time Jason Devlin and Michael Devlin (3) with the goals, Clonmany added three more goals from Daniel Mc Laughlin and Michael Devlin (2) to lead 7-0 early in the second half and the nine goal margin looked possible, but Sean Coyle got one back for Illies, then Daniel Mc Laughlin made it 8-1, Illies hit back with goals from Aiden and Paddy
Group (B)
|This group was played in Muff on a chilly but mainly dry day Glengad were delayed due to road conditions, but the competition got going on time thanks to Cockhill sportingly agreeing to play QPS in the opening game, QPS went into a 3-0 lead, 2 goals from Anto Mc Colgan and one from Mark Wallace, Martin Donaghey pulled a goal back for Cockhill for a 3-1 half time score line, 2 more goals from Donaghey levelled the score before Kieran Mc Laughlin put Cockhill 4-3 ahead, Mark Wallace levelled for QPS, then 6 goals without reply 2 from Gerard Green with I each from Mark Wallace, Simon Wallace, Paul Grant and Adam Harkin left the final score 10-6,In the second game Redcastle took a 3-0 lead over Glengad thanks to goals from Brian Tracey, Brendan Murphy and a own goal, Stephen Mc Laughlin pulled one back for Glengad, but Murphy added another to make it 4-2 at half time, Redcastle added 4 more to Glengad’s 1 in the second half for a 8-3 victory, In game three Glengad raced into a 3-0 lead against QPS with goals from Stephen Mc Laughlin, Terence Doherty and Paddy Doherty, Paul Grant pulled 2 goals back for QPS and Dean Hegarty made it 3-3 just before half time, Dean Hegarty made it 4-3 to QPS, Stephen Mc Laughlin levelled at 4-4, Kevin Wallace and Brian Mc Colgan made it 6-4 to QPS and a own goal made the final score 7-4, In the third game Redcastle took a 2-0 lead over Cockhill goals from Mc Cormick and Murphy but Martin Donaghey pulled one back for a 2-1 halftime score, Raymond Campbell put Redcastle 3-1 ahead, Kevin Mc Daid made it 3-2 after Gerard Crossan was red carded, Eddie Mc Intyre and Cathal Faulkner made it 5-2 but goals from Kieran Mc Laughlin and Martin Donaghey made an exciting finish to the game, In the next game QPS had three great chances to take the lead against Redcastle but excellent net minding by stand in goalkeeper Brian (Banjo) Tracey kept the Muff men at bay, Martin Farren then put Redcastle ahead, QPS keeper Brian Lynch was then red carded and Eammon Donnelly made it 2-0 at half time, Adam Harkin got one back for QPS, then Dean Hegarty levelled at 2-2 before Paul Grant made it 3-3 to QPS, Donnelly made it 3-3 from the penalty spot and Donnelly added a late winner for Redcastle, overall a very enjoyable day marred by some unacceptable abuse at the referee, this was totally unwarranted, unfounded and certainly not in keeping with the spirit of this competition.
Group (C)
Played in Moville this was an entertaining group and all games were played in commendable spirit. In the opening game Gleneely led twice through Declan Kearney and Ruairi Kelly but goals from Gavin Harkin and Michael Barr levelled the game before Paddy Keys struck for the winner. The scoreline of seven one to Moville over Carn did not accurately reflect the balance of the game and the home side had seven different scorers with Nigel McMonagle, Darryl Doherty, Mark Henry, Declan McGuinness, Kevin McDermott, Oran McDermott and Joe Doherty all getting on the scoresheet with Darren Loftus replying for Carn. Carn and Gleneely then drew four all with Brendan Tabb , Conor, Ronan & Dermot Doherty salvaging a point for Carn with Gleneely who led two nil and four two with goals from JP Lafferty, TJ McKinley, Declan Kearney and Christopher McElhinney.Moville recorded their second win with a five two success over Greeencastle. Two from Conor Lafferty and McGuinness and one from McMonagle made the five with Paddy Keys and Tony Boyce responding. Greencastle then led three one, four two and five three before late goals from Dermot Doherty and keeper Padraic Doherty after a brilliant run salvaged a point for Carn. In the final game Moville edged out Gleneely by three goals to two with Lafferty, McDermott and McMonagle on target and Kearney and Christopher Smith replying for Gleneely.
Group (D)
Played in Maginn this was an excellent days football played the way the game should be played. A very young Sea Rovers side played some excellent football with Seamus Houten in goals outstanding, the Ward brothers always dangerous and Seamus Doherty willing to attack at every opportunity. Although they lost all their group games the fact they had no substitutes was always going to count against them. Dunree had little difficulty scoring goals with Liam Baldrick, Brendan McDaid and Philip McGuinness prominent but once they lost to Culdaff ( 7-4) they put it upto Aileach before a late surge saw them lose ( 9-4) and they disposed of a tired Rovers side in the final game. Aileach were on fire in their opening games beating Rovers ( 10-2) and Dunree (9-4) with Anthony Doherty, Kieran Craig, Paul McHugh and Dermot Doherty among the goals. Culdaff won their opening games against Dunree ( 7-4) and Rovers (9-4) with the Byrne brothers, John McFeely, Dermot Diver and Conor O’Brien all among the goals. This left the Aileach v Culdaff game as the group decider with Conor O’Brien firing Culdaff in front only for Sean McKinney to level. Culdaff regained the lead through Dermot Diver but goals from Stephen O’Donnell and Paul McHugh looked to have put Aileach in the driving seat as they led three two at half time in a game where they only needed a draw. Culdaff dominated possession in the second half but keeper Martin McLaughlin made a couple of excellent saves and Anthony Doherty lobbed the ball wide of an unguarded net. They paid the price when Michael Byrne levelled before O’Brien scored a fine individual goal and Diver added another to make it five three. A late scrambled effort from O’Donnell reduced the deficit to the minimum but Culdaff held firm to advance to the semi finals. Park