Stacked sports section this week

BETWEEN hat tricks, title fights and motorcycling awards - the Coleraine Chronicle covers them all.

As usual, starting from the back we cover how Coleraine's Joel Cooper says he and his team mates will focus on themselves while aiming to get as close as they can to leaders Larne after cutting the gap to eight points at the weekend.
Cooper bagged a treble in Saturday’s 5-1 rout of Crusaders, less than 24 hours after the Inver Park side were held to a scoreless draw by Linfield.

Glenn Irwin will return to the North West 200 in May after sitting out in last year’s North West saying he wanted to take a break from road racing. A change of heart will now see the Carrickfergus man return to the grid in May and go head to head once again with leading riders like Michael Dunlop, Davey Todd, Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison during this year’s three Superbike contests. In other racing news, Michael Dunlop was named the Irish Motorcyclist of the Year at the Irish Motorbike Awards on Friday night.

Football

Coleraine picked up three points on Saturday after a dominant second half over Crusaders after netting five goals. Going into the break, the Crus were the leaders after Fraser Bryden's 36th minute goal. Coleraine levelled within a minute of the restart, Joel Cooper outstripping the visitors' defence before blasting a left foot shot high into the roof of the net past Crusaders goalkeeper Musa Nimaga. Ryan Schofield kept his side in the game moments later when he dived full length to his right to save Bryden's penalty and that gave Coleraine the impetus they needed.

Goals that followed to give Coleraine the decisive win came from Mark Connolly, Joel Cooper scored his second in the 65th minute, getting on the end of a Zane Okoro pass to finish, before Matthew Shevlin got in on the act just a minute later. There was still time for man of the match Cooper to complete his hat-trick deep into added time when his left foot shot beat Nimaga with the aid of a deflection.

Limavady United moved back to the top of the Championship table after their 1-0 victory over Ballinamallard on Friday evening from Leon Boyd in the first half, a lead that Paul Owens' side were able to hold onto for the duration of the evening. “It was a brilliant result,” the manager said.
“Although we won a cup game last week and had a league outing called off, this was our first outing since the defeat to Annagh, something that we were really disappointed with. It was brilliant commitment from the players. Getting the three points and the clean sheet was exactly what we were looking for," said Owens.

The Roesiders host Armagh City on Saturday before turning their attention to the North West Cup Final against Strabane Athletic on the Tuesday night, a competition that Owens has achieved silverware in before as the Limavady manager.

"We were fortunate enough to win the North West Cup in my first year here, so we will hope to go and win it again. We’re looking to add more silverware to the cabinet. There’s three very tough games this month for us, so we will just enjoy the build-up to the Linfield game."

In Portstewart, things didn't go as smoothly for John Greggs team, a goal from Dergview in the last 20 minutes of the afternoon cost Portstewart three valuable points, and a incident involving the Portstewart keeper Paul Wells also cost him appearances in their next few outings - Wells was shown a red card after making contact with a Dergview player moments after the goal.

GAA

THE Ulster Colleges top hurling prize, the final of which had a number of false starts this season, was eventually decided at the Dub Arena in Belfast midweek, when St Pats Maghera turned in a storming second half performance to take the silverware back to the Oak Leaf county. The Maghera lads strutted their stuff in the second half of this final to totally knock the holders off balance and they went on to win by 10 points, a result that was expected but not by this margin.
While the final scoreline suggests a comfortable win for the Derry school, the game became a contest of two distinct halves with the holders giving as good as they got in the opening period.

Derry hurlers won the Conor McGurk Cup final with last puck of game. THERE was drama before this final was even played on Saturday. It was set for The Dub, the Queen’s University ground for 1pm. An inspection deemed that the ground was unplayable so a quick arrangement set the game for Celtic Park at 2pm.

Boxing

Churchlands Golden Gloves hosted a packed house show on Sunday, featuring 10 competitively contested boxing bouts.
Two titles were up for grabs during the afternoon, one sponsored by head coach Micky Fleming and his family, with the other belt sponsored by Churchlands Golden Gloves. The crowning moment for the club came after Kealen Neill defeated Jacob Peoples following three hard-fought rounds, with Neill coming out on top by unanimous decision in their boxing trilogy.

The second title fight of the night saw Rui Patrick and Cody Peoples step through the ropes, with the pair exchanging nothing but power punches from the opening bell. Peoples landed the better of the punches and did his best work with Patrick’s back to the ropes. Two standing eight counts against Patrick were enough for the referee to wave the fight off, allowing the away boxer to have his hand raised as the winner.

Motorsport

The Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council were delighted to announce that the ‘Joey 25’ celebration won the  ‘Motorcycle Event of the Year’ at the prestigious Irish Motorbike Awards 2025. The glittering awards ceremony, which took place on Friday night in Belfast’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, was attended by the biggest names in local motorsport.
‘Joey 25’ was held in Ballymoney on Saturday May 24 2025, marking 25 years since road racing legend Joey Dunlop’s accident in Estonia. The event was hosted by the council in partnership with Joey`s wife Linda and children.

Full reports and pictures inside this weeks Coleraine Chronicle.