THE LAST TWO semi-final places in the Donegal News League Cup were clinched today.
Bonagee United and Derry City Reserves had already secured their passage and they will be joined by Cockhill Celtic and Letterkenny Rovers, both of whom enjoyed big wins this afternoon.
Cockhill Celtic 4-0 Fanad United
Cockhill Celtic made the early running against Fanad United and were soon rewarded with a big win.
The pressure finally told when the excellent Peter Doherty got on the end of another Gerard McLaughlin’s cross to knock home from close range. With Ronan Doherty outstanding in centre midfield directing play and the returning Mal McDermott breaking any Fanad attacks up, the second home goal was inevitable.
On 20 minutes Mark Moran cut in from the left and unleashed a brilliant drive into the bottom left hand corner of the Fanad net. Goal number three arrived on 35 minutes with Christy McLaughlin again found Gerard McLaughlin and he duly slotted home. Fanad rarely threatened and Cockhill spurned numerous chances to add to their tally.Â
The second half saw Fanad compete much better and make things more difficult for their hosts with Shaun McElwaine pushed up into midfield making a difference.
Twice home goal keeper Gavin Cullen had to save smartly as Fanad began to get a find their form. However, Cockhill added a forth when once again flying winger Christy Mc Laughlin found Gerard Mc Laughlin with a great cross, his initial effort was well saved but Malachy McDermott was there to finish off from close range.
Letterkenny Rovers 6-1Â Swilly Rovers
A rampant second half performance was the the difference at the Aura Centre on Sunday afternoon as Letterkenny Rovers booked a spot in the semi-final of the USL League cup defeating Swilly Rovers 6-1.
In what was a very even first half a depleted Swilly side had the better of the exchanges and maybe should have gone ahead on at least four occasions.
A draw would have been enough for Swilly to finish group runners up and it looked like they would get to the interval on level terms but disaster struck three minutes into added time. Swilly lost possession on the half way line from a throw in and the ball found Paul McVeigh, who played a neat one-two with Okakpo-Emeka before teeing up Garbhan Grant and he finished neatly to the bottom corner from just inside the box.
That came as a blow to Swilly and it didn’t get any better just six minutes into the second period. After Kevin McGrath was fouled in his own penalty area, a long punt from goalkeeper Rory Kelly took an awkward bounce over the Swilly rearguard and in nipped the lively McVeigh to lob advancing keeper Caolan Bolton.
Swillly’s head dropped at this stage and a further three goals in a eight-minute spell ensured Rovers would win out comfortably.
Mark Forker found Okakpo-Emeka and his low cross led to McDaid firing home on 64 minutes while another neat move involving McGrath and Terence Shields led to an unselfish assist from Shields to McVeigh and he could not miss from just three yards out.
A rampant Rovers made it five on 72 minutes when the goal of the game was scored with Grant heading home a wonderful flowing move involving Forker, McGrath, Shields and Okakpo-Emeka. Rovers then made it six when Okakpo-Emeka fired home after some enterprising play by young substitute Tarlach O’Boyle on his senior debut.
Swilly had no answer to Rovers second half display and their chief outlet was through Laurence Toland and he got a deserved goal for his efforts when some sloppy play from Rovers led to Ryan McDaid putting through an appetising throughball from which Toland clinically finished.
Letterkenny now play Bonagee in the semi-final next April and begin their league proper in a fortnight’s time against Bonagee as well while Swilly must regroup and will be hoping to have the likes of James McCahill, Dan O’Donnell and Gareth Wade for next week’s FAI intermediate cup tie at Bonagee.
Letterkenny Rovers; Rory kelly, Ryan Lonergan, Conal McGonigle, David Shovlin, Jonathan Minnock, Terence Shields, Cathal McDaid, Kevin McGrath, Paul McVeigh, Mark Forker, Garbhan Grant. Subs; Steve Okakpo-Emeka for Shovlin 20 mins, Tarlach O’Boyle for McVeigh 78 mins
Swilly Rovers; Caolan Bolton, Duncan Patterson, Shaun crossan, Dylan Hegarty, Damien Friel, Marty McDaid, Brandon Toye, Shay Durning, Michael McHugh, Laurence Toland, Ryan McDaid. Subs; Caolan Murray for Friel 23 mins, Cathal Diver for Patterson 64 mins, Adam Salhi for McHugh 67 mins
Referee; Packie Coll.
Results
Group A
Letterkenny Rovers 6-1 Swilly Rovers
Group B
Cockhill Celtic 4-0 Fanad United
Fixtures
Sunday, September 20th at 2pm
FAI Intermediate Cup Round 1
Bonagee Utd. v Swilly Rovers Ref. V. McLaughlin
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