Inishowen Engineering Division Two
Cockhill Res 3
Aileach Youths 3
In a frenetic opening part of the game both sides looked like they were suffering from a Christmas hangover with lots of mistakes. Cockhill took the lead on 5 minutes when a long Mark Gillespie pass was misread by the Aileach defence and Darragh McDermott looped a header over Ryan Fox in the home goal. Cockhill were just as generous at the other end with a mishit clearance by Gary Robinson fell at the feet of Killian O’Rourke who slipped the ball into the empty net to equalise. Cockhill regained the lead on 15 minutes when McDermott slipped a ball through to Gary Breslin who nudged the ball past Fox and just made it over the line. On 30 minutes a corner from Dara Grant wasn’t properly cleared and Kevin Wallace poked the ball towards the goal where it was blocked by a Cockhill defender’s arm for a penalty. Daibhidh Grant assumed the responsibility but his effort was expertly saved by Robinson diving to his right. This gave Cockhill a boost and five minutes before half time they extended their lead when McDermott cut inside from the right and squeezed a shot past Fox from 15 yards. Aileach made some tactical changes at half time and with the breeze behind them they pressed Cockhill back from the off. Grant reduced the arrears within ten minutes when a free kick was only cleared to the edge of the box where he fired into the roof of the net. Aileach continued to press and almost drew level with five minutes to go when Josh Lynch had a shot from 10 yards that was superbly tipped over the bar by Robinson. Cockhill almost wrapped it up when Breslin got clear in the box but Fox tipped over the bar. Aileach finally found the equaliser deep into injury time when a Kevin Wallace knock on fell at the feet of Aaron Doherty who slipped a shot past Robinson for a share of the spoils.