Cookstown Olympic FC

COOKSTOWN Olympic travelled to play Grange Rangers in the league last Saturday and after a very eventful match came away with a four two victory. The official played a large part in this match and showed the red card to three Olympic players with a fourth also brandished but retracted when he admitted he had pulled out the wrong card! Prior to the start of the match both teams observed a minutes silence in memory of Mark ‘Goldie’ Loughran’s Mother who sadly passed away that morning. Condolences are sent from all the management and players at Cookstown Olympic. Cookstown started with a new look to the team and took the lead after 7 minutes when Ryan Devlin placed a through ball to Declan Doherty and he rounded the keeper to finish. The score should have been doubled five minutes later as the ball broke to Doherty inside the box but the keeper pushed it wide. Grange then equalised after 20 minutes from a free kick which saw poor Cookstown marking and after this they enjoyed a bit of possession without any real chances. The official then spotted a player from both side pushing each other but somehow only the Cookstown player was shown a red card.

With the first half running out Olympic grabbed their second when a Jonny O’Neill free kick was flicked goal wards by Conor O’Hare but leading goal scorer Ryan O’Neill blasted home from 10 yards out. In the second half the official brandished another red card within three minutes and then two minutes later Grange were level again. Olympics’ troubles saw a reshuffle in the team with fresh legs substituted and Richard McMenemy then had two one on one chances in the 55th and 59th minutes which were not taken. The visiting Olympic team always looked more likely to score. However, the official then pulled out another red card when two players went up to head the ball and once again the Olympic player was sent off. Down now to 8 men Olympic played deep but caught Grange on the break and on 70 minutes Olympics hard work paid off with goal number three.

John Gilmore intercepted in his own half and headed for goal beating two defenders on the way and then crossed under pressure to see Richard McMenemy leap highest to head the ball down past the Grange keeper.

Grange never really threatened Olympic and with two minutes left Olympic won a corner 30 yards out. John Gilmore lashed the ball goal wards but the wall stopped it with a hand ball for another free. Now from 20 yards out Gilmore unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner that the Grange minder could only look at on its way past him. It has to be said that this was an excellent all round team performance with a great will to win shown by the team even though the official had a card happy match. Team: Jamie O’Neill, R Devlin, D Campbell, E McSloy, L Mullan, C O’Hare, C O’Reilly, R Scullion, Jonny O’Neill, R O’Neill and D Doherty. Subs J Gilmore, R Bloomer and R McMenemy. Next Saturday Cookstown Olympic will again be on their travels as they go to Ballymena to play Wakehurst Strollers in the league.

On Saturday 3rd December Cookstown Olympic will play Armagh Rovers in the third round of the Mid Ulster Shield with a tie at Beechway with a 1.30pm kick off.

Training will now take place on Thursdays only. All training sessions will take place on the synthetic pitch at the Mid Ulster Sports Arena with a7pm start on Thursday.

The Lucky 4 Lottery numbers for Saturday 19th November were 7, 9, 10 and 11. There were no winners who matched four numbers for the £350 jackpot. There was one winner who matched 3 numbers, P Quinn (Seller E McSloy), and they claimed the £30 prize. The jackpot will now be £350 for next week’s draw and tickets are available from any committee or team member.