Crumlin Star defended their title against a well organized old boys team . The Ardoyne lads  were in fine form an had the Whitewell team penned into their own half for most of the first half.  James Mc Nally almost broke the dead lock after 20mins when Doyle and  Mc Nally combined with a neat one two and the latter was one on one with the keeper only to see his chip go over the bar, Osburne and O'Reilly were in total control in midfeild an with some slick passing they released  Brown on the wing an his fierce shot just cleared the bar
 H/T 0-0

The game sprung into life ten minutes into the second half when débutante Gary Watson  beat two players and his shot from 25yards out crashed of the bar, only two minutes later Watson was released by Tony Reilly and this time the player drilled his shot under the keeper. Only 5mins later the oldboys turned there game using the long ball an the pacy front men they equalized when a threw ball beat the Star defense and the striker drilled the ball passed Conor Toner in nets. The star were reeling as the Whitewell team never looked like scoring, but on 65 min the old boys took the lead when the Star keeper and defender were guilty of not talking and the nippy 22nd forward pounced between the two players an scored. Ciaran.Braniff entered the fray and got into the game straight away when he released James Mc Nally and he cross for the inform James Doyle who was on hand to smash the ball passed the keeper.  Conor Finnegan and Paul Berne  were made to work hard an it was a long ball from Berne who found Mc Nally  whos pass found the impressive Braniff as he unselfishly passed to Doyle who couldn't miss from 2 yards out. The Ardoyne team almost helled out but on 85 mins the Whitewell team beat the offside trap to give toner no chance in goals with a precision shot into the corner  to force the game into extra time. Manager Toner encourage his player's to play football in extra time an that they did, making the old boys work hard of the ball as they passed the ball about well. On 95 mins Brown, Braniff and Mc Nally linked well before Braniff coolly side footed the ball into the corner of the net he put the star in front again. Paul Berne almost added to the score only to see his header thump of the bar. On the stroke of ht of extra time the old boys equalized with a superb curling shot from 25 yards right into top corner to put teams on level terms again . 5mins into the 2nd half period of extra time  Thomas Mc Kinney forced a corner from which Stiofan Brown found Conor Finnegan who was on hand to score with a well taken volley to send the star second string into the hat for the next round.

Star Man - Gary O'Reilly