Northend U-14s are 'Star' turns

The Northend U10 'Babies' beat Ballysillan Youth 2-1 to secure second place in the league and have still the Shield Final and Cup Final to look forward to.

The U11 team were beaten 2-0 by Bertie Peacocks in the BEAYIL Cup semi-final but still have the Shield Final to look forward to.

Northend U12s were beaten 5-0 by Carnmoney Colts in a League match while the U13 team drew their derby match with Waveney Youth 1-1 at the Showgrounds.

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Ballysillan Youth 1, Northend 2: Northend started the first half very brightly AND took a well deserved lead midway through the first half with an excellent finish from 12 yards from Jamie Stevenson.

In the second half, Aaron Montgomery slid a good ball to Jamie Stevenson down the right and Stevenson calmly slotted home to make it 2-0.

Late in the game Ballysillan pulled a consolation goal from a free kick.

MOM: Jamie Stevenson, Scott Sempey

Northend: Kieran O'Boyle, Aaron Campbell, Scott Sempey, Tarlagh MaCrory, Alex O'Boyle, Aaron Montgomery, Jamie Stevenson, James O'Loughlin, Matthew Downey, Shea O'Brien, Aidan Graffin, Cory Little, Matthew Erwin, Eoin McNally, Taylor Kernohan, Jamie Wray.

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Bertie Peacocks 2, Northend 0: Having recently beaten the Peacocks side in Shield action, Northend were confident of progressing to the Cup final but were undone by two second half goals.

In a sluggish second half performance, Northend never really got going and found themselves a goal down midway through the half after some good attacking play from Peacocks.

A counter attack from Peacocks led to their second goal and with it went any chance Northend had of progressing to the Cup Final.

MOM: Oliver Boyle

Northend: Anthony O'Neill, Robbie Dennison, Ryan McKenna, Jamie Crawford, Oliver Boyle, Philip Maybin, Conor Graham, Conor McHugh, David Kilgore, Zack Herbison, Ryan Gordon, Sam Bennett, Eamon Elliott, Ben Sempey.

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Waveney Youth 1, Northend 1: On eight minutes Waveney broke out of defence and a pass to their striker found him in space in front of the Northend goal.

As the Northend keeper Niall Shannon came rushing out, the Waveney striker lobbed the ball over his head into the Northend goal to make the score 1-0 to Waveney.

Northend started the second half in lively fashion and on five minutes, a Matthew Mulholland cross was met with a strong header from Jaime Brown to beat the Waveney keeper and make the score 1-1.

MOM: Dylan Hamill

Northend: Niall Shannon, Ciaran McCambridge, Caolan Tierney, Michael Laverty, Niall Swann, Jamie Speirs, Ryan Gault, Dylan Hamill, Matthew Mulholland, Jaime Brown, Stefan McLees, Brendan O’Mullan, Jordan Donnelly.

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Red Star 4, Northend 5: Northend reserved some of their best football of the season for this match and Ryan McIllroy gave them the lead early on when he beat the Red Star keeper with a low shot on five minutes.

With Northend exerting the pressure, Emmet Kerr was next to score when he headed home from a corner kick on nine minutes, but Northend took their foot off the pedal and allowed Red Star to pull a goal back.

From a low drive from Ryan McIllroy into the Red Star box, a defender turned the ball into his own net to give Northend a 3-1 lead and Brendan Lynas was next to score when he beat the Red Star keeper with a low drive to give Northend a 4-1 lead with minutes of the first half remaining.

However some sloppy play in defence, allowed Red Star to pull a goal back right on the stroke of half time to leave the score 4-2 in Northend’s favour.

With renewed confidence, Red Star started off the second half strongly and pulled another goal back on ten minutes to make the score 4-3.

Northend weathered this storm and with ten minutes remaining a superb through ball from Sean McCann left Ryan McIllroy with space to beat the Red Star keeper and restore a two goal cushion to Northend.

Right on the stroke of full time Red Star pulled another goal back but it wasn’t enough as Northend ran out 5-4 eventual winners

MOM: Brendan Lynas

Carniny: Dylan Little, Thomas Brady, Emmet Kerr, Ryan Douds, Declan McAfee, Mark Robinson, Sean McCann, Conan Dunne, Ciaran Ferris, Ryan McIllroy, Brendan Lynas, Simon Cunningham, Aidan Hughes.

MINI SOCCER ACADEMY

On Saturday, Northend had two teams participating in the P1/P2 Ballymena Mini Soccer League. An excellent afternoon’s football was witnessed by coaches and parents alike with many stating that they were seeing the start of another successful Northend team in the making.

This Saturday sees the commencement of the P3 Mini Soccer League at the Showgrounds. All players in the Northend teams are requested to meet at 1.15pm.

The Mini Soccer Academy continues this Saturday at Dunfane Pitch 1 from 2.15-4pm.

For more information, contact John Devlin, Northend United Youth Development Officer, on 0791 905 6834.

SCOTLAND EASTER CUP

Northend United Youth had a very busy weekend with all their teams competing in the Scotland Cup Ayr Festival.

With two U10 teams and one U11 team playing in the friendship matches, this left the U13 and U14 teams in the competitive section. Both teams played really well and ended up winning the Plate Tournament in both age groups.

Medals and trophies were presented to the teams by Alan Rough ex Scotland, Patrick Thistle, Celtic and Hibs goalkeeper. More details will follow.