Crumlin Star crashed out of the Junior cup on Saturday to Newry side Bessbrook on penalties. Although the Star where meant to be at home for this fixture they ended up losing their home advantage due to Mallusk being called of for the recent bad weather which in all honestly handed the advantage to the Newry side. The Star played against the wind in the first period as the opening stages seen very little football from both teams with the pitch not helping matters at all as it was full of pot holes and very bumpy. Paul Brown had the Star's best chance of the half when he rounded the home keeper and shot from a tight angle only to see his effort cleared of the line. Bessbrook's best efforts came from free kicks from the edge of the area but Thompson in goal was equal to every effort.

H/T 0-0

The Star started the brighter between the two sides in the second half as Mooney and McKervey gave the home side some problems on the flanks. Bessbrook broke the deadlock on the hour mark when Braniff lost possession cheaply high up the pitch to let the home side break away with a devastating counter attack which resulted in their central midfielder sliding the ball past the on coming Thompson. The rest of the game was dominated by the Star as they went in search of the equaliser. Paul Brown had a couple of efforts saved by the impressive Bessbrook keeper most notably tipping a cracking effort onto the bar when the ball looked to be heading into the top corner. Braniff, Devenny and Reid all had efforts well saved too but ten minutes from time Paul Brown tapped in a McKervey cross to bring the Star back to level terms. Braniff wasted a golden chance deep into injury time when the ball broke to him in the area and he back heeled his effort into the keepers sprawling arms when he should've done better so the game went into extra time.

With both sides looking tired there was very few chances in extra time bar one which fell to Mark Mooney when he was put through one on one by Ciaran Reid but only managed to hit the sprawling keeper. So it was penalties to decide who went through and that's when it all went wrong for the Star as they managed to miss every single penalty to crash out of the cup. It was the third time in four years that the Star where eliminated on penalties which is a very hard way to go out.

Next week the Star are away to Bangor Amateurs in the Clarence cup. Kick off 1:30pm.

Team: Thompson, O'Reilly, Burns, B.Mooney, Nellis, M.Mooney, Reid, Braniff, McKervey, P.Brown, Devenny

Subs: Cairns, McConnall, McNally