LEMON’S BOYS PIP BLUES

“JUST another Saturday” was how Carniny U-15 coach Dessie Lemon described his young lions’ memorable 2-1 weekend victory over Linfield in Northern Ireland’s ‘elite’ National League.

Goals from Lemon and Cummings saw the Ballymena ‘Reds’ race into a two nil lead and even though the ‘Blues’ pulled a goal back Carniny valiantly held on to earn a well-earned three points.

The 14s also had a great day in the ‘Maiden City’ coming back from two down to see off Trojans 5-3 on their own turf. The National League certainly throws up some great ties which far outweigh the travelling and expense involved.

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The 13s had to face the long trip to Fermanagh to take on Ballinamallard but unfortunately came home pointless going down 2-1 to the Lakeland side.

In their fourth different county of the day in Northern Ireland for Carniny their under 12s lost quite comfortably 7-1 to top side Ridgeway as the 11s beat Shankill Juniors 2-0 at ‘fortress Ballykeel’ in the George Best League.

In the Coleraine & North West Youth League the Carniny Mini Soccer U-10 teams both earned draws with the Amateurs finishing 2-2 with ‘Bertie’s’ whilst the Youth also drew 3-3 with Coleraine. The 10s have been playing well and even reverted to the 11 a side format where they will play Ballymena Youth Academy in the semi-final of the National Cup competition.

U-10S’ ‘GERS TRIP

Carniny u10s have been invited to attend Glasgow Rangers for a weekend at the beginning of June.

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Despite their troubles off the field Rangers wanted the Carniny u10s to bring the best of the club’s talent to Ibrox to play the Rangers Youth Academy team. They will receive a warm welcome and then a tour of Ibrox and Murray Park training ground on the Friday.

On Saturday morning they will play the Academy team and then a 2 hour training session with a Rangers coach in the afternoon where the Rangers scouts can have a look at the talent on view.

After 2 nights stay in a 4 star hotel the team intends to play a friendly against more of the local talent before heading home on the boat with great experience and memories.

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Carniny Youth 3, Coleraine Olympic 3: Carniny were playing their second game of the NW Coleraine top 6 competition hoping to follow on from their successes in the Coleraine League and George Best Cup.

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Carniny within 10 seconds were 1 nil up when straight from the centre Farquhar had a shot from the half way that the Coleraine keeper failed to hold and there was Mearns to slot the ball into the net.

Coleraine got their equaliser when the Carniny keeper let the ball slip through his hands. To Carniny’s surprise Coleraine got their second to make it 2-1 at half time.

In the second half, Carniny started to play their passing football and precise finishing. This paid off with another goal from Mearns. Stewart then got in on the act and scored Carniny’s third.

The game should have been over when Carniny were awarded a penalty that would have made it 4-2 but the penalty was missed and this inspired Coleraine into a grandstand finish. Coleraine equalised to make it 3-3 and the last 5mins Carniny were holding on for the point.

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Carniny: Lyness, Simpson, Robinson, Farquhar, Hunter, Stewart, Mearns.

Carniny Amateurs 2, Bertie Peacock’s U-9 2: A good even match despite the year of age difference, saw Peacocks take the lead though a well struck powerful shot for the right side forcing its way through goalkeeper McNicholl’s hands and into the net. Peacocks continued to push and made it 2-0 before the half.

The second half saw much of the same end to end football but it was Carniny’s turn to find the net, firstly through a corner from Currie finding the head of Stewart and secondly from Currie himself, with a well struck shot finding the bottom corner.

Carniny: McNicholl, Lamont, Francey, Currie, White, Barr, Stewart, Sterling, McClean.

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Carniny 2, Shankill Youth 0: Carniny found it hard to break down a well organised defence and clear cut chances were at a minimum.

The breakthrough came after Carniny forced a corner on 20mins, Archer found Kirk in space on the edge of the box who despatched a right foot volley into the roof of the net.

A second goal came 5mins from the end when a run by Stewart into the box created a chance for (Jo) Logan who calmly slotted the ball into the net.

Carniny: Parker, Campbell, Kirk, Ervine, Winter, Neeson, Close, O’Boyle, (Jo) Logan, Stewart, Archer, McClean, (Ja) Logan.

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Ridgeway Rovers 7, Carniny 1: Carniny fell behind when they conceded a free kick just outside the box and a Carniny player blocked his keeper and the ball bounced into the net on 15mins.

Ridgeway doubled their lead on 25mins when another was struck high into the net.

Carniny never eased searching for a way back into the game and Lemon got his reward when he battled his way through three Ridgeway players to coolly finish on 27mins.

However, from the centre, Ridgeway went straight on the attack and restored their 2 goal lead on the stroke of half time.

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The second half saw Carniny press high up the pitch in search of a response but Ridgeway scored 4 more goals on the counter and deservedly won against a Carniny team not having played a competitive match in four weeks.

Carniny: Reid, Young, Houston, Marshall, Leetch, Little, Laverty, Lemon, Downey, Barr, OMagill, McDonnell.

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Carniny 1, Ballinamallard 2: Carniny U13s made the long trip to Irvinestown on Saturday morning to play a League Cup match against Ballinamallard Youth.

After a long drive the boys were predictably slow to start and Ballinamallard opened the scoring with their first effort inside the first 5mins.

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A sluggish first half continued for Carniny before Ballinamallard added a second on 20mins.

Five minutes into the second half and Carniny finally got their breakthrough when McGall scored a 35yd free kick but in spite of dominating the rest of the game the score remained at 2-1 in Ballinamallard’s favour.

Carniny: J McClean, A Adams, S Evans, C McGall, T Campbell, K Keenan, R O’Mullan, B McNeill , J Houston , C Doherty, J Hasson, M McComb, A Johnston.

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Trojans 3, Carniny 5: The Under 14s travelled to Londonderry to play their last league game of the season in the National League.

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Carniny started very poorly and Trojans raced into a 2 goal lead in the opening 20mins with Carniny struggling all over the pitch.

Carniny slowly came back into the game and Shevlin set Mairs free on the right and a fine ball into the penalty box was finished off by Campbell to leave Carniny trailing 2 goals to 1 at half time.

The second half saw a much improved performance from the Carniny team and they soon equalised when following a foul, Kennedy found the bottom corner with a brilliant free kick from 30yds out.

Five minutes later Carniny increased their lead when Shevlin ran through to score and the same player scored again soon after when he chipped the Trojans’ goalkeeper to put Carniny 4-2 in the lead.

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With 10mins left Trojans pulled a goal back after a mix up in Carniny’s defence to set up a tense finish.

However, a superb pass from Kennedy found Mairs, who finished well to restore Carniny’s two goal lead.

The drama didn’t end there and a Carniny defender was penalised for a hand ball in the area but Marquess in Carniny’s goal dived to the left and turned the penalty round the post for a corner.

Carniny: Marquess, McCartney, Weir, Rowe, Killough, Graham, McCann, Kennedy, Mairs, Campbell, Shevlin, McDonnell, Hart.

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Carniny 2, Linfield 1: Carniny picked up their first win of the season and what a way to do it!

Carniny scored two great early goals to stun Linfield in the first 20mins of the game, the first coming from Lemon after some good build up play on the edge of the box from Reid who worked the ball and laid it off on a plate for Lemon to loop it over the keeper who just tipped it under the bar and into the back of the net.

Carniny continued to create chances and again on the edge of the box the ball broke to Cummings who struck the ball just inside the right post and past the Linfield keeper.

The Blues pulled a goal back from a free kick just before the interval but some resolute defending ensured a famous victory.

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It was a great day for the Under 15’s and a great overall team performance for a team who have had a difficult season but have stuck at it all year and credit goes to them all.

Carniny: Gillespie, Livingstone, Pogue, Weir, Graham, Millar, Nixon, Lemon, Scroggie, Reid, Cummings, Mairs, Shevlin.

SOUTHPORT TRIP

Carniny Youth Under 13s are heading to Southport over the May Bank Holiday weekend in order to take part in the prestigious Southport Cup Competition. They will be competing against teams from all over the UK and Ireland and are very much looking forward to the challenge.

Manager Andy McClean and Coach Mark Houston will take charge of the 14 man squad who will fly to John Lennon Airport in Liverpool before making their way to Southport. Seven parents will also accompany the squad.

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The trip will be a well deserved reward for the players who are already assured of a place in the top half of their National League and good results in their final two games would result in a third place finish.

They are already on the lookout for new players for next season. Anyone interested (born in the year 1999) is most welcome to join them for training and should contact Andy on 07814038368.