Bet McLean Craig Memorial Cup Final

Jan 22, 2025

This year’s Bet McLean Craig Memorial Cup has been won by Newtowne, who defeated Moyola Park 2 – 1 in front of a good sized crowd at Fortwilliam Park on Boxing Day morning.

Despite starting as underdogs, Newtowne got off to a flying start, going one up in the 3rd minute when James McAleese took advantage of some confusion in the Moyola defence to volley an excellent goal. A further set-back for Moyola came in the 15th minute when they conceded a penalty, duly tucked away by Colin Mullan to make it 2-0.Newtowne sensed an upset and continued to press Moyola into their own half, in fact Moyola’s first real attack in the Newtowne penalty area resulted in a spot kick awarded by referee Terry Foley in the 22nd minute, which Jake Francis scored to make it 2-1 and game on!The expected Moyola Park come back never materialised as Newtowne’s defence were well marshalled and fought for every ball.The teams went into the interval with Newtown leading 2-1.As the second half started, Moyola were more involved in the game creating opportunities but Newtowne, were not content to sit back on their slender lead and continued to threaten.At the final whistle it was a jubilant Newtowne bench who were elated as the players shook hands on what was a hard fought but sporting contest which was deservedly won by Newtowne.The Man of the Match award was presented to Newtowne’s Daniel Boyle and Andy Millar Chairman of the North-West Football Association presented the cup to Newtowne Captain Craig McAllister.