Cockhill Celtic go to Clonmel Celtic in the last eight of the FAI Junior Cup 

Cockhill Celtic have been pitted against Tipperary’s Clonmel Celtic in the last eight of the FAI Junior Cup following Tuesday morning’s live draw from Abbotstown. 

Gavin Cullen’s side were dominant 4-0 winners over Galway’s Maree/Oranmore at the Charlie O’Donnell Sports Ground on Sunday. 

And their reward for progressing there is a clash against Clonmel, who pipped Letterkenny Rovers 2-1, in the most dramatic of fashions, to seal their own passive to the quarter-finals. 

If Cockhill were to be successful there, they also now know that they’d be back on the road in the last four with the winners of Regional United and Pike Rovers earning home advantage. 

Cockhill, who reached the final of the Intermediate competition last season but lost out on penalties to Rockmount, will be most people’s favourites now to go on and win the FAI Junior Cup. 

Speaking after Sunday’s demolition of Maree/Oranmore, boss Cullen admits he was apprehensive prior to kick-off. But those nerves soon dispersed as his side quickly went one in front through Luke Rudden.

They’d grab a second injury time at the end of the first-half with Rudden once again on target.  Peter Doherty headed in a third soon after the restart while late on substitute Jack Mullan rounded off the scoring with his team’s fourth. 

“I was a little nervous this week coming into the game,” he said. “I don’t know why. But to be fair to the lads they really stepped up to the plate. It was a really dominant display. There were spells there where I thought we were just excellent. 

“It was a quick start and even the second right before half-time, they were great times to score. I think getting that first goal, as early as we did, it really sucked the wind out of them. We probably should have had a few more before half-time. 

“But we kicked on in the second-half. It was probably our best performance of the season. The third, once Peter Doherty got that, we were able to make some changes. And young Jack Mullan came on and probably scored the goal of the game right before the end”.

Cullen insisted his squad will take little to no notice of the bookie’s opinion at this stage of the competition. Ahead of the last eight draw, he was hoping for a third home encounter on the bounce. 

That didn’t transpire, however. And while it’s certainly a long, long way to Tipperariy for the Inishowen heavyweights, they’ll travel with real aspirations of making it through to the semi-finals. 

“We’re where we want to be. We’ve managed to get home games in the last two rounds so hopefully the draw will again be kind in that sense. 

“But at this stage, no matter who we get and where we get them, we know they’ll be strong.  It’s the business end of the competition but we’re looking forward to it. When we enter any competition, we’re in it to win it. 

“This is a national competition and that makes it that little bit more special. We seen last year just how much of a buzz the Intermediate final run created. And that’s the aim again. But you can only take it one game at a time”. 

The draw in full is: Gorey Rangers v Peake Villa; Clonmel Celtic v Cockhill Celtic; Villa FC v St Michael’s AFC; Regional United v Pike Rovers. 

The quarter-finals ties are scheduled to be played on the weekend of March 3, while the semi-finals are down for consideration on the weekend of April 3.