Fivemiletown United  2-6 Crumlin Star

On Saturday the Star travelled to Fivemiletown for a first round Intermediate cup fixture. In previous years Tyrone hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Ardoyne men but on Saturday the Star where just too good for the Mid Ulster Intermediate A league side.  In rain soaked conditions the Star started the better with Joe McNeill and Francie Murphy pulling the strings in the middle of the park with Sean Brown and Ciaran Murphy causing all sorts of problems up top. After just ten minutes the Star took the lead when Barry McKervey crossed for Sean Brown to score from close range. Shortly after the impressive Joe McNeill drove into the box and fired passed the defenceless keeper to double the Stars lead. All over the park the Star where well on top and soon enough it was 3-0 to the Ardoyne side when Mark Mooney finished well from an acute angle. In a rare attack against the Stars rearguard Fivemiletown pulled a goal back when a ball swung in from a corner somehow went across the face of the goal and was put away by the home sides striker. Any thought of a fight back was short lived when Ciaran Murphy scored just before half time when he finished well after some hard work by Mooney.

H/T 1-4

The second half started as the first ended with the Star putting the ball in the homes sides net once again. The goal was all down to the exquisite pass from Francie Murphy to Barry McKervey which sliced Fivemiletown's defence wide open as McKervey side footed the Star into a commanding 5-1 lead. With the wind and rain at their backs the home side managed to put the Star under a spell of pressure which resulted in them winning a penalty when O'Reilly was harshly judged to have tripped his opponent, the same player picked himself up and fired the ball past Thompson to make it 5-2. The final goal of the game came ten minutes from time when Francie Murphy jinked his way into the box and slotted the ball into the net to make it a resounding 6-2 victory for the Star.

On Friday the Star are home to Kilroot Rec in the quarter final of the Border Cup, Kick Off 7:30pm @ Solitude.

Team: Thompson (7) O'Reilly (8) Burns (8) Berne (7) Savage (7) Mooney (7) McNeill (9) F.Murphy (8) McKervey (7) Brown (9) C.Murphy (8)

Subs: O'Neill (6) McDowell (6) P.Brown (6)

Joe McNeill scored his first goal for the Star after his return from America.