Sevens Competition

GAELIC LIFE COALISLAND FIANNA ULSTER U21 SEVENS - A ROARING SUCCESS!

Saturday 29th August 2009 - A day that will live long in the memory.... and hopefully one that will be the start of something special for our club!

It was the day that the inaugural Gaelic Life Coalisland Fianna Ulster U21 Sevens was held in Fr Peter Campbell Park. And what a day it was! Teams arrived from all over Ulster. For one reason or another some of the scheduled participants were unable to attend, and they will be kicking themselves!! The standard of football on display throughout the day was exceptional, every game a hard hitting exhibition of what a rich vein of U21 talent exists in Ulster.

Sevens football is a very exciting variation of the game that combines lightning speed, sublime skill and some big hits!! And all three were in evidence for the gathered supporters and gaels to feast on.

The format of the competition had to be altered slightly to accomodate 9 teams rather than the advertised 12. Two groups were formed, one with four teams, the other with five. The rules were simple, each team would play all the other teams in their group, two points for a win, one for a draw, nothing for a defeat. When all group games were played, the top two in each group would progress to the semi finals of the cup competition. The 3rd and 4th placed teams in each group would go into the plate competition, while the 5th placed team in group B would sadly go home.

A new draw was required, and to ensure fairness the management of all represented teams were in attendance. The groups were drawn as follows

Group A: Longstone, Carrickcruppen, Cargin & Scotstown

Group B: Creggan, Tempo, Ballinderry, Desertmartin & Coalisland

And so the group games got underway at high noon. Results are posted below.

Group A

Longstone 2-3 Carrickcruppen 1-6
Cargin 1-6 Scotstown 0-2
Longstone 2-2 Cargin 4-7
Carrickcruppen 1-9 Scotstown 0-6
Longstone 2-10 Scotstown 2-9
Carrickcruppn 4-9 Cargin 1-8

Group B
Desertmartin 0-3 Coalisland 5-8
Creggan 2-15 Creggan 1-2
Ballinderry 3-6 Desertmartin 3-5
Creggan 0-4 Coalisland 2-9
Tempo 2-4 Ballinderry 0-9
Creggan 1-5 Desertmartin 1-2
Tempo 0-5 Coalsiland 1-10
Creggan 1-11 Ballinderry 2-4
Tempo 0-4 Desertmartin 5-5
Ballinderry 0-5 Coalisland 1-3

From Group A Carrickcruppen and Cargin advanced to the cup competition while Longstone and Scotstown advanced to the plate competition.

From Group B, Coalisland, the only undefeated team, and Creggan advanced to the cup competition while Ballinderry and Tempo went through to the plate competition. It was unfortunate that Desertmartin had to leave us, as they had a league match to play at 6pm that evening - which was made all the more unfortunate by the fact that had they been able to stay, they would have qualified for the plate competition.

In the plate competition, Longstone recorded an impressive victory over Tempo, while Scotstown edged past Ballinderry. In the final, Scotstown narrowly defeated Longstone by just one point in a pulsating end to end encounter. Scotstown, the only team not to have won a single game in the group stages, put the wins on the board when it counted, and walked away with a £300 equipment voucher sponsored by Gaelic Life.

The cup semi finals were both tense and tight affairs, with Carrickcruppen recording a two point victory over Creggan, and Coalisland just getting past Cargin by a solitary point. In the final, both teams fought off the fatigue to produce a worthy of the showpiece of this inaugural event. Coalisland raced into the lead early on, and try as they might, Carrickcruppen just didn't have enough left in the tank to peg them back, Coalisland emerging victorious by 5 points. Coalisland lifted the Tyrone Crystal made trophy as well as a voucher for £1,000 worth of sports equipment sponsored by Gaelic LIfe. Carrickcruppen walked away with a voucher for £500 worth of sports equipment as their consolation prize.