Football: Magherafelt progress in Irish Cup

With Brady, Monaghan, Campbell and Hawe unavailable Beattie, Duffin and O’Kane came into the side.

The first 15 minutes were pretty even with neither side able to gain the upper hand but that changed in the 20th minute when the Dromore keeper under pressure from Beattie failed to clear and Beattie subsequently stroked the ball into the unguarded net.

Ten minutes later the Blues doubled their lead when Kelly crossed from the right and Coogan chested the ball down and finished to the bottom corner.

The Blues were looking comfortable at this point and should have increased their lead but chances for Devlin and Beattie went a begging.

Just before half time Dromore got back into the game when their centre back headed home from a corner and the half ended with the Blues 2-1 ahead.

The second half began in spectacular fashion when, after one minute, Coogan scored a screamer into the top corner to put the Blues in the driving seat.

The Blues allowed Dromore back into the game 10 minutes later when a mistake let the striker in and he fired the ball past Ludlow.

The game was finally made safe with 10 minutes to go when Beattie burst through only to see his shot well saved but 15 year old Mark Kelly fired the rebound to the net to seal a great personal performance.

A solid performance and deserved win with O’Neill with a commanding performance just pipping Kelly to the Blues man of the match award.

Team: Ludlow, Hassan, Badger, O’Kane, O’Neill, Rafferty, Kelly, Stewart, Coogan, Beattie, Devlin. Subs: Niblock, Duffin, Hawe.