Magherafelt Sky Blues News

IFA Intermediate Cup Round One – Sat 29th October 1.30pm Spires Park- Magherafelt Sky Blues v 1st Bangor

Under 11 -LEAGUE – Sat 29th October 11am - Magherafelt Sky Blues v Causeway Colts

Under 12 - LEAGUE – Sat 29th October 11am- Magherafelt Sky Blues v Coleraine Academy

Under 13 - LEAGUE - Sat 29th October 11am- Magherafelt Sky Blues v Warrenpoint Town

Under 14 -LEAGUE – Sat 29th October 11am- Ballymoney United v Magherafelt Sky Blues

Under 16 – LEAGUE – Sat 29th October 11am - Magherafelt Sky Blues v Valley Rangers Colts

Reserves - LEAGUE – Sat 29th October 2pm - Magherafelt Sky Blues Reserves

All players are requested to check the Blues website for the latest training details.

Skills Development Mini-Soccer Centre – The IFA approved centre had closed down for a short summer break and returned on Saturday 13th August 2011 at 10am. This is aimed at players of primary school age. Please contact 07870 578593 for more details. Results- Reserves – LEAGUE – Larne Olympic 1, Magherafelt Sky Blues 4

Under 12 LEAGUE – Dungannon United 1, Magherafelt Sky Blues 0

Under 14 LEAGUE – Coleraine 2, Magherafelt Sky Blues 5

The 12th Magherafelt Sky Blues Ground Development Lotto has been drawn for the new season.

The Hi Number was 44. The Lo Number was 20. The Bonus Number was 1. * Results taken from the National Lottery Draw (Saturday) No one matched the correct numbers. The £25 lucky dip winner was David Evans.

Tickets are on sale for next Saturday’s draw from all committee members. The jackpot is now £400

Magherafelt Sky Blues will send two (10 aside) teams to Cookstown for the next seven weeks to take part in the McDonald’s Skills Centres.

The first session begins this week at the Mid-Ulster Sports Centre. This is for all players born in 2002 with a couple of 2003 players also allowed to take part. Match location - Mid-Ulster Sports Centre. Players to meet at - 6pm at Spires Park. Match kick-off time - 7pm Pick up time for parents - 8.30pm. Cost per player - £3 Equipment - please make sure you have your own socks, shorts, shin pads, shirt and football boots on. Please wear something warm as the weather will be unpredictable. Two teams will be selected from the following squad of 21 players. If you are unable to play please text 07870 578593 so another player can be drafted in. 1. Curtis Ewing, 2. Niall Bateson, 3. Ryan McMenemy, 4. Aaron Donnelly,5. Caolan Crozier, 6. Daniel Robinson 7. Jon McAllister, 8. Jarlath McWilliams, 9. Ross Spears, 10. Shea McGuckin, 11. Aidan McCluskey, 12. Ryan Lennox 13. Conleth Mallon, 14. Joe McVey,15. Sean O’Neill, 16. Michael Mullan, 17. Matthew Cowan, 18. Jamie Gribben 19. Rory Clarke, 20. Diarmuid Walls, 21. Alex Porter

Under 12s Fall To Leaders

Despite losing one nil, Magherafelt Sky Blues U12s pushed high flying Dungannon Utd Youth all the way to the final whistle in today’s hard fought National League game. The home team couldn’t have expected the level of performance produced today by the ‘Wee’ Sky Blues, as they were harassed from the first whistle right to the final seconds of the game. The Sky Blues deserved at least a point from this game but were heartbroken when Dungannon finished their only real chance of the entire 60 minutes to seal victory. The coaches asked the Sky Blues players to up their level of performance for this game and to a man each player produced their best performances of the season. Every player who wore a Sky Blue jersey today should be proud of their teamwork, determination and skill, and with the tiniest sliver of luck the result would have been so different. Jack Bresland was unflappable in goals, showing a safe pair of hands and time and again he stepped forward to nip any hint of danger in the bud. Aaron McKee produced his usual fine display as the marauding right back and yet again he showed the heart of a lion in every tackle with Dungannon’s physically bigger opponents. Aaron was just pipped for man-of-the-match today by the imperious Alex Doherty. The other full-back was Kealan Friel who was close behind McKee and Doherty in terms of performance, Kealan won the ball cleanly all afternoon and his distribution out of defence was superb.

Caolan Coyle had another consistent display but as captain he must curb his temper which nearly saw him making an early exit. Caolan nearly opened the scoring in the first half with one of his trade-mark free-kicks which whizzed inches over the crossbar. Star man today was Alex Doherty who was magnificent at the heart of the Sky Blues defence, he won every aerial challenge, was strong as an ox in every challenge he made, and cemented the back four into a unit that looked as if it could not be breached. The midfield four of Ciaran Shields, Ben McErlain, Pearse McLarnon and Harry Evans worked tirelessly to keep the Sky Blues in possession and to maintain the balance of play. Harry Evans in his first start for the Sky Blues slipped a defence splitting pass through to Eunan Mulholland who nearly squeezed the ball past the home team keeper to open the scoring. Ben McErlain played at least 4 whipped crosses just in front of the keeper which were just begging to be finished. Pearse McLarnon put in the hardest shift of the day and must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch and Ciaran Shields showed a mix of skill and effort as he ran himself into the ground for the team. Up front Eunan Mulholland and Cormac Murphy had the really hard task of occupying the Dungannon back four and there was several times when they nearly escaped their tight markers to go clear on goal. This is a quality squad now and the introduction of Jack McCoy, Cathal Martin and Daniel Bradley saw no noticeable change in the level of performance of the Sky Blues.

The U12s pushed Dungannon right to the death and created a brace of chances in the final minutes. Another rasping free-kick from Coyle was spilled by the home team keeper and as was the case throughout this game the ball fell kindly for the home team which denied the onrushing Sky Blues a well deserved equaliser.