Dead rubber, but dead frustrating for City of Derry against Cooke!

City of Derry will be kicking themselves after the concession of a try SIX minutes into injury time brought a halt to their recent run of league and cup victories. The saving grace for Derry though is the result of this Junior Cup, Group Two encounter mattered not one iota, something the Ulster Branch may want to have a look at for the 2025 reincarnation of the competition.

With both teams already in the quarter-final before kick-off and the powers that be deciding top spot carried no added weight in the last eight draw, Saturday's tie was reduced to a glorified challenge game with nothing on the line but pride, much to the frustration of Derry Head Coiach Richard McCarter.

“In theory we could draw Cooke again which is really frustrating and it’s something the Ulster Branch would need to look at," reflected McCarter, "Why go to the bother of trying to win your group when there is no seeded quarter-final pairings. But at least we’re in the draw and we have to be positive about that.”

McCarter has a point, but if victory would bring no spoils for Derry, this is a game it was crucial not to lose given how they have been building momentum over the course of the season so far.

To that end it was job done after another brilliant individual display from Killene Thornton. The full-back scored Derry's only try of the opening half with a trademark break after two Alex McDonnell penalties had given the hosts an early 6-0 lead. Unfortunately some loose defensive play in injury time allowed Cooke in before the break to leave it 11-8 and take the shine of what had been a one sided opening 40 odd minutes.

Cooke started the second half as they finished the first, crossing the Derry whitewash for 15-11 before the loss of Stephen Corr to injury, coupled with a yellow card for Aaron Deery, handed the visitors further momentum.

However, Derry responded in fine fashion and when Thornton teed up both Jamie Millar and Davy Graham to score tries, the home side were on course for victory at 25-18 with time almost up. Or so we thought. But six minutes after the 80th minute had passed, more loose play in defence allowed Cooke in to salvage a draw. Nothing was lost, but there was still frustration for McCarter.

"I’m a bit disappointed in our performance if I’m being honest," he admitted, "We were pretty good in the first half and I thought we should have been further clear, 11-8 at half-time was not a fair reflection on the game. We were by far the better team. That said we were really sloppy at the breakdown, conceded a lot of turnovers at ruck time. It evened up a bit in the second half where I thought they were the better team overall.

“Two moments of pure brilliance from Killene has, not rescued us because I thought we were the better team overall, but they were our only shining moments in that second half."

The City of Derry Head Coach said he was disappointed in some of his side's defensive work, something they will have to improve on as they head into the business end of the season.

"We simply weren’t accurate enough at breakdown. They targeted that area of our game and really fired though on us. But we have to be stronger, we’ve got to get the support player in. We have to be stronger all round. We can’t be getting turned over as often as we have been. It wasn’t just today. Even last week against Randalstown we conceded a lot of penalties as well.

“That last phase of play when they scored the equalising try sort of summed us up. There were so many scrag tackles, we just couldn’t put them on the deck. We’ve talked a lot and we’ve worked hard on our defence this year and I’ve seen improvement over the last couple of months but today was a backward step from a defensive point of view."

City of Derry: Fearghus Canning, Tom Cameron, Sam Duffy, Gerard Doherty, Gary McKinley, Aaron Deery, Tiarnan Dillon, Stephen Corr, Jamie Millar, Alex McDonnell, Ross McLaughlin, David Lapsley, David Graham, Jack Beattie, Killene Thornton. (Replacements) Adam Marley, Alan Thomas Mason, Eoin Coyle