Homers boss hails players' '˜super' display in semi-final win

Harryville Homers celebrate their Irish Junior Cup semi-final win over Carniny Rangers in front of the electronic scoreboard at the Showgrounds. Picture: John McIlwaine.

Duddy was thrilled with his side’s performance as they overwhelmed Saturday Morning League rivals Carniny Rangers 4-0 at the Showgrounds.

“I thought the boys were super from the first whistle,” said Duddy.

“That was our gameplan, to go at them from the first whistle and we got the goal early on but we missed a few great chances before half-time.

“I thought we could have had the game dead and buried by half-time, such was the possession we had but in the second half the boys just went at it again and I thought there was only one team in it, to be honest, and that’s no disrespect to Carniny.

“Carniny have a lot of good players, they are going well in the league and they have had a terrific run in the Junior Cup too - maybe nerves got to some of their boys.

“The early goal is everything. It settles everybody down and then you can play your own game.

“I would have liked to have seen us take more of our chances in the first half but all in all, I can’t complain,” added Duddy.

His opposite number Robert Young was typically forthright as he assessed his side’s performance.

“From start to finish we just weren’t good enough.

“Football is a pretty simple game. That was always going to be a battle tonight and we didn’t win one of them.

“They wanted it more than we did, they had better players than we did and they had stronger players than we did.

“One boy fell asleep, it was a goal and from there it got worse. When we got in at 1-0 down at half-time we thought that was a result for us.

“We thought we might be able to pick it up a bit in the second half but we got worse.

“Picking so many young boys was a mistake on my part - I went for a bit of youth to try and give some of Homers’ older players a bit of bother and not let them play out from the back. But we never made two passes and Homers won it at a canter.

“That game probably came a season too early for our young players.

“We had five players who were ineligible but they will make us a bit stronger for the rest of the season.

“Homers have a really good side and really good management and once you get on a roll like they’re on, they’re hard to stop.

“We’re still in the league, we have to play Homers twice and Ahoghill Thistle twice so there’s a lot for us to play for,” added Young.