After a two year absence from the local footballing calendar, the annual Peter Corrigan Memorial Tournament made a welcome return on Saturday with some great football on display. The previous knockout format was replaced this year with a new format and it proved to be a huge success with some high scoring and entertaining games on show.
This was one of the strongest fields in “The Petsy” for many a year with top sides from the Amateur League, Downpatrick, Drumaness, Rathfriland and Portaferry joining hosts Castlewellan, Newcastle League side Killough and two of Belfast’s finest junior footballing sides, Cumann Spoirt an Phobail and Tullymore Swifts. The new format saw two groups with winners and runners-up progressing to the semi-finals. With games at 40 minutes there was a lot of football to be played to determine the winner, and with the weather just about holding off, it was time to get the action underway.
Group A saw hosts Castlewellan paired with Cumann Spoirt an Phobail, Portaferry and Rathfriland with group B pairing together Downpatrick and Drumaness with Killough and Tullymore Swifts. The tournament also saw the first action on the new playing field at the Bann Road, a pitch which more than matches the big plans that Castlewellan have in place as they now enter Amateur League football. First up on the new pitch and to get the tournament underway were hosts Castlewellan as they took on Rathfriland, who were a late entry to the competition following a late withdrawal by Immaculata.
Castlewellan got off to the perfect start when Barry Travers proved an unlikely scorer to tap in following a fumble from the keeper to score the first goal of the tournament and the first on the new Bann Road pitch. Things then got better for the hosts when the outstanding David Gilmore unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 yards to make it 2-0. Rathfriland didn’t take long to get back into the game though and quickly pulled it back to 2-2 only for Sean Dornan to score a great solo effort to give the hosts an impressive opening 3-2 win. This wouldn’t be the last time these two would face each other.
In the other game in group A Cumann Spoirt an Phobail and Portaferry played out a 1-1 draw which certainly had plenty of talking points. This meant both sides knew they had to win their next game to have any real chance of progressing. Portaferry went down to a 1-0 defeat to hosts Castlewellan while Cumann Spoirt an Phobail were comfortably defeated by Rathfriland who were quickly putting that early defeat behind them. In the final group game Rathfriland really turned on the show with an impressive 4-0 victory over Portaferry with James Costello, Darren McGrath and John Scannell all putting in an impressive performance. Castlewellan knew a draw over Cumann Spoirt an Phobail would see them top the group and the hosts delivered with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Donal McKibben and Shane Mooney. McKibben’s goal was worth turning up for alone as his Beckhamesque effort from the halfway line earned a standing ovation from both his own teammates and opponents. With the group games over, Castlewellan progressed as group winners with 3 wins and Rathfriland went through as runners-up, although their performance was beginning to greatly improve from the opening game.
Downpatrick proved to be the team to beat in group B as they comfortably topped the group with 3 wins out of 3 and were certainly looking like the team to beat. Downpatrick were joined in the semi-finals by Belfast side Tullymore Swifts who despite going down to a 2-0 defeat to Downpatrick in their first game, progressed thanks to a 2-1 victory over Drumaness and a 1-0 win over Killough. It was a tournament to forget for both Killough and Drumaness with the latter missing a few regulars and will likely be in a much stronger position once the new season begins.
And so to the semi-finals which were both run simultaneously. In the first semi-final, Castlewellan proved too strong for Tullymore Swifts running out 3-0 victors thanks to goals from Daniel Morgan, Shane Mooney and a screamer from Sean Dornan. The fans who turned out to watch the tournament were being treated to some great football and some cracking goals. The second semi-final proved to be a tighter affair with Rathfriland overcoming Downpatrick 2-1 to progress to the final and a chance to avenge their opening game defeat by the hosts.
The final in truth proved to be a bit of an anti-climax as Rathfriland had all but put the game to bed by half time thanks to goals from McGrath, Costello and McVerry. By this stage the mountain of football had caught up with the hosts who gallantly battled on in the second half with Lee Ward grabbing a consolation goal after McGrath had grabbed his second. The town had a few chances as the game finished out but in the end it was Rathfriland who ran out deserved winners by 4 goals to 1to lift the 2015 Peter Corrigan Memorial Tournament. Their strikeforce of Costello and McGrath proved too strong for the town in the final with McGrath being named player of the tournament after some fine performances. They were supported by a strong Raithriland team with Larkin, Black and Scannell standing out throughout the tournament.
For the hosts it proved to be a good workout and a great way to kickstart their pre-season. Corrigan, McKibben, Gilmore and Steele all impressed while it was good to see Sean Dornan back in the green and black following a year out through injury. If the hosts can keep this squad together for the year and add in one or two players they’ll certainly be a team to watch out for in 2C and indeed the Amateur League over the coming years.
The committee would like to thank all those involved in making this year’s tournament a huge success and look forward to it becoming a firm fixture again in the local pre-season calendar. A special word of thanks goes to the referees on the day along with Club Sport NI for their sponsorship of the competition. A mention also goes out to Jim Burns, Michael Blaney, Ciara Dorrian, Michael Ward and Gemma Ward for their hard work throughout the day.
There will be a friendly game this Saturday for both Castlewellan firsts and seconds against Fermanagh Western side Mountjoy Utd. Kick off for first game is 1.00pm at the Bann Road. Players to meet at 12.15pm – new and old players welcome. This is the start of 5 home games in a row as pre-season firmly gets underway for the boys.
The club is running a family fun day on Saturday 8th August at Bann Road playing fields. Full details will be provided next week and follow us on Facebook for more information on this day. It promises to be a cracker.
Latest tote numbers – 11, 3 and 18. No winners. Next week’s jackpot is £300 for 2 numbers and £800 for 3 numbers.
