Dramatic finish for the Wee Whites

THERE were two outstanding displays recently from Lisburn Distillery’s two U-9 teams when all eighteen boys involved produced what was arguably their best performances in white.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Oct 2012, 11:30 BST

Game one saw the boys dominate against a strong St. Mary’s side. For a change the boys were quick out of the traps with the outstanding Callum Ashby getting his name on the scoresheet. He was quickly followed by the impish Lennox Young who showed predatory skills to finish well from close range. The defensive pairing of Michael Rocks and Louis McKinney were giving nothing away and Noah Perry continued the trend when coming on for Louis. Matthew Moore came out of nets to produce a commanding display from wide right and topped it off with a great finish after bursting clear of the St. Mary’s rearguard. Xander Power also had an excellant game in various positions and Kenzie Bradley led the line superbly constantly bringing his team-mates into the game and was also extremely unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet, surely the goals will start to flow again soon for the hard working forward. Watching their team-mates obviously paid off for team two as they also produced a first class performance in what was an enthralling encounter with an excellent Ardoyne side. Again the wee Whites bucked the trend by starting off like a house on fire with Ross White and Bradley Ingram both getting goals against their shell shocked opponents. The second period saw Ardoyne show their class and come right back into what was becoming the match of the season so far. Defenders Spencer Maxwell and Ben Coulter had to work extermely hard to keep at bay the marauding Ardoyne attackers but the boys still had time to produce the move of the game when after a flowing length of the pitch move Jake Donaghy drove at the heart of the Ardoyne defence and delayed his pass superbly to put Ross White through on goal, Ross steadied himself and rolled the ball towards the bottom corner only to see it roll agonisingly wide. The third period saw the wee Whites produce an awesome display with Ardoyne now forced to concede numerous free-kicks to halt the rampaging Bradley Ingram. Jake Donaghy was whipping some dangerous balls into the danger area from the resulting set-pieces and Noah Kelly was extremely unlucky not to get a goal from at least one of them after taking up some excellant positions. It was then Ben Gilliland’s turn to step out of defence and again Ben was unfortunate not to get a goal when his efforts were well blocked by the overworked Ardoyne defence. At the end of another surging run Bradley Ingram saw his fierce shot hit the bar and almost immediately Conall Cunningham’s jinking run into the box drew a foul from the defender to earn a well deserved penalty but the Ardoyne keeper produced an excellant save from the resulting spot-kick. The Ardoyne boys weren’t finished though and showed real character to end the game with a flourish and ultimately produce the most dramatic of finishes. Firstly a well struck Ardoyne free-kick went fizzing past the post and everyone thought that was that but from the last attack of the game a penalty was awarded for handball, was the match going to finish in heartbreak for the Whites, the answer was no as Lewis Doyle the Distillery custodian dived low to his right and get a really strong hand on the ball which then hit the under side of the bar and bounced just in front of the line, time seemed to stand still for a split second but eventually Bradley Ingram hoofed the ball clear and as the Ardoyne keeper had pushed forward the ball sailed over his head and looked to be heading into the unguarded net but bounced inches wide, at this the final whistle sounded and everyone could breathe again. What a game! It will be a long time before anyone who witnessed this match will get such excitement, who needs the the Premier League when you have Lisburn Distillery U-9s?