Cockhill Celtic laid down a marker of their intent and class as they blitzed Four Lanterns Ulster Senior League title-rivals Letterkenny Rovers at the Aura Centre.
Letterkenny Rovers 0 Cockhill Celtic 4
By the time, with four added minutes already played, Garbhan Friel bagged Cockhill’s fourth, the afternoon had long since become excruciating for Rovers, who were, for long periods, out-played and out-thought by the five-in-a-row champions.
Jimmy Bradley’s first half double and a third by the excellent Ronan Doherty, in the ninth minute of the second half, had put the game beyond the reach of Eamon McConigley’s men.
They could, with some justification it must be added, point to that moment in the 17th minute, when Pajo Rafferty stuck the ball in the Cockhill net only for an offside flag from Michael Connolly to cut short the celebrations.
Gavin Cullen, the Cockhill player-manager, wonderfully turned a Conor Tourish header onto the crossbar, Rafferty reacted to score and Connolly’s flag was met with anger from the hosts.
The margins were wafer-thin, it was impossible to tell in the absence of a replay, and a firm opinion on the incident was guesswork at best.
Rovers had started brightly, but from then to the finish they played second fiddle.
Letterkenny Rovers
Cockhill opened the scoring on 22 minutes when Bradley headed past Rory Kelly from Doherty’s delicate free kick, clipped in from the right-hand side.
Cockhill themselves could point to a penalty that wasn’t when Doherty had his heels clipped in the penalty area, but play continued and Bradley saw a shot saved by Kelly.
On the half-hour, Cockhill – purring by now in attack and in control of things all over the park – doubled the advantage.
Conor Tourish was caught by Garbhan Friel and the big striker powered away before feeding Bradley to steer home.
Laurnce Toland was denied by a post and Friel’s snap-shot stung Kelly into action again as Cockhill sensed a kill.
It was perhaps a pointer to how Cockhill began to dominate that McConigley withdrew three of his midfield four just after the hour.
By then, though, they were already staring at the abyss. Nine minutes into the second half, Friel and Toland combined and Doherty, although forced onto his lesser-used right foot, found the bottom corner.
Sean McCarron shot over early in part two and tested Cullen again midway through the half.
But it was Cockhill’s day and, after Friel saw another effort saved, the Inishowen side had time for a fourth.
Assistant referee Connolly flagged for a spot-kick, much to the consternation of Rovers, when Bradley went to ground. Friel’s spot-kick was saved by Kelly, but Friel’s follow-up crashed to the net for Cockhill’s 25th League goal of the campaign.
Already, the signs have both ominous and inevitable feels to them.
Letterkenny Rovers: Rory Kelly; David Shovlin, Conor Tourish, Ryan Gildea, Lee Toland; Kevin McGrath (Garbhan Grant 64), Christy Connaghan (Chris Malseed 64), Brian McVeigh, Ryan Lonnergan (Chris Flanagan 64); Sean McCarron, Pajo Rafferty (Darren McElwaine 68).
Cockhill Celtic: Gavin Cullen; Paul McDermott, Peter Doherty, William O’Connor, Jason Breslin (Mark Moran 73); Laurence Toland (Paul McKinney 90), Ryan Varma, Jimmy Bradley, Ronan Doherty (Marty Doherty 90); Mark Coyle (Malachy McDermott 34), Garbhan Friel.
Referee: Marty McGarrigle.
