CUFL finals a huge success

Cootehill Harps 4 Ballyhaise 2 Cootehill Harps" premier underage team finished the season on a high by scooping the CUFL U15 Cup by dint of a hard-fought victory over a gutsy Ballyhaise side at Cavan Box Park, Ballyjamesduff. In what was a real topsy-turvy affair, Cootehill got off on the frontfoot and hit the jackpot inside the opening four minutes. In perfect playing conditions, the town side pushed forward with intent from the opening whistle and duly drew first blood with a precise header from Killian McSherry. Ballyhaise proved to be well-merited finalists though and they proceeded to give as good as they got over the hour-plus. Indeed with midfielder Cathal Bogue in fine form, Ballyhaise deservedly drew level on the 25th minute mark courtesy of a Diarmaid Conaty strike from all of 20 yards. From there to the half-time break, the tempo of the game remained unrelentingly high but there were no goals before the advent of the short whistle, thus leaving the sides going in at the break deadlocked at one goal apiece. The second half was no less an eventful affair and it was all of just 90 seconds before the goal count was increased. A fine in-swinging corner wasn"t dealt with by the Ballyhaise defence and Eoin McGovern rose highest to put the would-be losers ahead by the odd goal in three. However a Craig Murphy did excellently well five minutes later to cut inside two defenders before expertly finding the Ballyhaise net. Murphy then nabbed his second and Cootehill"s third when he finished a John Carney cross to the net. Ballyhaise remained under the cosh in the dying minutes and while it looked as if Caolan Reilly was fouled in the box, John Carney took swift advantage of the advantage rule to run in on goal and finish neatly to seal Ballyhaise"s fate. Cootehill Harps; C Smith; C Reilly, E Hessan, A Watson, S McCann; S Jackson, D O"Brien, K McSherry, C Reilly; C Murphy, J Carney. Subs:N Clerkin, K Pritchard Ballyhaise; O McConnell; P Moore, F Moore, E McGovern, D Conaty; G Jenkins, C Bogue, C O"Reilly, K Johnston; D Conaty, D Talbot. Subs: S Conaty for P Moore; P Conaty for K Johnston; R McCabe for C Bogue. Under 11 Cup Ballyjamesduff 4 Cavan Shamrocks 1 Flying-attacker Jake Doyle-Hayes, aka JK, stole the show as Ballyjamesduff scooped the CUFL U11 title on home territory against Shamrocks. "JK" had several lieutenants to call upon including Davidas Zvalauskas who shone in bagging two goals. Bally"duff broke the deadlock with a Darragh McEnroe strike - following a slide rule pass from Doyle-Hayes - in the 10th minute.. Cavan enjoyed plenty of possession as the first half progressed and after a handful of corners eventually got their due reward with a fine Luke Fortune goal Fortune"s neat finish couldn"t prevent Cavan from trailing by 1-2 at half-time though and once Doyle-Hayes found the net in the 40th minute, an air of inevitability wafted its way over proceedings somewhat. In the 54th minute, the Cavan defence had a let-off when Doyle-Hayes hit the post but then two minutes later the issue was done and dusted when Zvalauskas netted his second to see off Cavan"s challenge. Ballyjamesduff; Keith Fitzsimons; R Farrelly, J Reilly, J O"Reilly, P Brady; D Zvalauskas, M Hammond, D McEnroe, G O"Reilly; S O"Reilly, J Doyle-Hayes. Subs; L Clarke for G Reilly; A Kelly for R Farrelly; P Fagan for S O"Reilly; R Egan for Zvalauskas; G Daly for P Brady. Goals - McEnroe (10th min); Zvalauskas (25th min); Doyle-Hayes (40th min); Zvalauskas (55th min). Cavan Shamrocks; C Hughes; C O"Donoghue, Shane McDermott, S Fortune, R Smith; R Garvey, K Donoghue, C McCabe, Stefan McDermott; E McCormack, L Fortune. Subs; J Nulty for E McCormack; S Corless for S McDermott; E Ruddy for S Corless; T McGovern for R Garvey. Goal - L Fortune (30th min). Under 13 Cup Cavan Shamrocks 3 Cootehill Harps 2 Cavan Shamrocks won most of the battles but, more importantly, also the war as they claimed the spoils in a dogged U13 CUFL final duel. The Shamrocks ruled supreme in the cockpit where Jonathan Leddy, Barry Fortune and Ben Kiernan combined to dictate the play for large tracts of the game. The winners had another ace in cunning attacker Shane O"Rourke and it was his slide-rule pass in the 6th minute that put Leddy through for the opening goal of the game. Cootehill - gunning to repeat their decisive league win over the same opposition the previous week - quickly hit back though and when Niall Clerkin tucked home Ryan Reilly"s teasing cross in the 8th minute, it looked as if the script was going to hold good. The first half continued to be a frenetic, fast-moving encounter and Leddy made it 2-1 to the county town-based side in the 12th minue with O"Rourke again the provider. In the 46th minute, Cootehill gained parity againwith Killian McSherry scoring after Caoimhin Carney"s lob rebounded off the bar. The match was settled late on when super sub Andrew Creamer made ground down the right wing before unleashing a cross which was neatly tucked away by Shane O"Rourke. Cavan Shamrocks: C McGearty; L Smith, P Smith, L Canning, C Bates; B Fortune, B Kiernan, J Leddy, R Dunne; J McClorey, S O"Rourke. Subs; M Turbett for R Dunne (half-time); A Creamer for J McClorey (48th min). Cootehill Harps: D Connolly; F McGoldrick, S McCann, R Clerkin; D McMullen, C Fitzpatrick, K McSherry, N Clerkin; C Carney, C Reilly.