Northend under-12s record first victory of season

Elsewhere in the North West, Northend Youth U10s drew 4-4 with Dungiven Celtic with young Jay McKeown bagging a hat-trick for the Blues. The U10 United and U9s teams didn’t have such good fortune, losing their matches against Limavady United and Portrush respectively.

The U11s had no match this week due to the Transfer Tests, whereas Ally McGarry’s U8s continue to set the standard for all Northend teams when both the U8 teams again won convincingly in their Mini Blitz tournaments.

In the National League, the U17s entertained Foyle Harps at their Friday night football slot at the Showgrounds 3G and came away with a 0-0 draw in a very close game, while Mark Herbison’s U15s lost their Derby match against Carniny Youth on Saturday by a single goal margin.

In the Lisburn Invitational Youth League, Mark Lecky’s U13s turned in another impressive performance by beating Lurgan Town 3-1. The U14s didn’t fare as well in their match against Windmill Stars from Newry.

Finally on Friday night, the Club’s Football Development Centre continued at its indoor venue at the Ballymena North Centre with over thirty boys and girls enjoying their first steps in football, under the direction of Northend’s Football Development Officer, John Devlin.

UNDER-8

Saturday saw Northend United and Northend Youth U8s travel to Ballysally to take part in two Mini Blitz tournaments against four other teams.

In Section 1, Northend United U8s had the following results: Northend 2 (Callum Hendron, Conan McKeown), Bertie Peacocks 1; Northend 3 (Callum Hendron, Callum Burnside, Justin Mark), Institute 1; Northend 1 (Conan McKeown), Roe Valley 0; Northend 1 (Pol Pius Donegan), Coleraine Academy 0

Northend: P Murphy, J Mark, A McPeake, C Burnside, P McAuley (c), C Hendron, C McKeown, PP Donegan.

In Section 2, Northend Youth had the following results: Northend 2 (Callum Hendron, Daniel Patterson), Dungiven 0; Northend 0, Bertie Peacocks 2; Northend 0, Portrush 0; Northend 0, Dungiven Celtic 1

Northend: A Spurgeon, L Devlin, C Lyness, S McDermott, K McAllister, D Patterson McAuley, C Burnside, C Hendron, C McKeown, PP Donegan.

UNDER-9

Portrush 6, Northend 2: Northend quickly raced into a 3-0 lead but Northend pulled a goal back straight from the kick-off in the second half, when Ben O’Neill drilled his shot into the Portrush goal.

They then pulled another one back when Jay McKeown scored to make it 3-2 but just as it looked like the comeback was on, Portrush scored twice in quick succession before adding a sixth late on. MOM - Stevie Bristow.

Northend: C Wilson, B O’Neill, D Killough, S Bristow, I Wylie, J McKeown, C McGarry.

UNDER-10

Limavady United 5, Northend 0: Missing a couple of players through illness, Northend were unable to contain the joint league leaders, despite a gutsy performance. MOM - Jack Adams and Niall Devine.

Northend: N Devine, J Adams, K Cosgrove, B O’Neill, C McMillan, P Bristow, O Campbell, C Lennon.

Dungiven Celtic Colts 4, Northend Youth 4: Northend U10s found themselves two goals down after seven minutes and that was still the margin at the interval.

The Wee Blues made a few changes at half time and it seemed to do the trick, with Jay McKeown pulling a goal back straight away. McKeown then levelled the score a minute later, with a good second goal.

Dungiven went in front again before Jay McKeown got his hat-trick to level the scores again.

Northend were now in control and Ciaran Martin got his first goal off the season when he scored in a goalmouth scramble but with the last kick of the game, Dungiven scored again. MOM - Ben Harkin, Niall Devine.

Northend: C Wilson, B Harkin, L Hextor, N Devine, C McKillop, C Martin, S Crawford, J McKeown, D Killough, J McFetridge.

UNDER-12

Northend 2, Roe Valley 0: Northend got off to the perfect start when quick thinking between Conor McDonald and Charlie Metrustry from a corner, allowed Conor to rifle home a fierce shot past the helpless Roe Valley keeper.

In the second half, Conor Meeke hit the woodwork from a corner but in the closing stages, Northend finally secured that elusive win when Oisin Connolly again picked up a ball on the right, glided past the oncoming defender and coolly slotted the ball into the corner of the net to make it 2-0.

A delighted U12 coach, Desy Metrustry, said: “This was a good team performance from the boys and a win they richly deserved. The boys have been working really hard in training and have been putting in a lot of good performances recently without getting our rewards on the pitch. I’d also like to thank the parents for supporting our team week in week out.”

Northend United Youth U12s players and coaches would like to express their thanks to Northern Snack Foods Limited and Mr Neil Coates for the sponsorship of their new kit for use in the North West and Coleraine District Youth League. MOM - Conor McDonald

Northend: S Higgins; C Forsythe; C Killough; C McDonald; C Meeke; R Gamble; J Lyness; O Connolly; J Coates; C Metrustry; J Scullion; M Stewart

UNDER-13

Lurgan Town 1, Northend 3: Northend took an early lead when, after Ruairi Campbell was fouled on the edge of the box, Tom Patchett took a free kick which rebounded off the keeper and Robert Iovu followed in to score.

Patchett was also involved in Northend’s second, sliding through a superb pass to Ruairi Campbell, who slotted it past the oncoming keeper. 0-2. After a lapse in concentration from a Lurgan corner, Northend failed to clear, and Lurgan pulled one back.

Northend pressure in the second half paid off when sub Conall Gordon passed it through to Ruairi Campbell, who then beat 2 defenders with his pace, before slotting the ball into the net. MOM - Niall Craig, Tom Patchett

Northend: C McGarry, S Frew, S Lecky, R McCluney, J Mitchell, N Craig (c), J Brady, R Iovu, M Willighan, T Patchett, R Campbell, P Kyle, C McDonald, C Gordon, C McNeill.

UNDER-14

Northend 0, Windmill Stars 5: Northend slumped to a defeat by Windmill, with three of the goals coming in the closing stages.

MOM - Josh Mark.

Northend: J Marks, T Evans, J Hayburn, A Shaw, A O’Boyle, S Hutchinson, K Babuszewski, J Stevenson, B Millar, A Campbell, D Bell, J Wharry, L McLean, E Mc Laughlin, M Kirk

UNDER-15

Northend 0, Carniny Youth 1: Northend U15’s hosted neighbours Carniny Youth at Ballymena Showgrounds on Saturday morning and within two minutes they were behind.

Poor defending allowed Carniny’s left winger have a shot from inside the box but the ball went skyward and when it came down again, their midfielder headed it back to the winger who shot from ten yards and the ball ended up in the net.

In the second half, both teams hit the woodwork, while Northend had late penalty appeals waved away as they were unable to come up with an equaliser.

MOM - Eamonn Elliott, Bradley Cairns, Robbie Dennison

Northend: E Elliott, J Anderson, R McKenna, R Dennison, B Cairns (c), O Boyle, L McFall, L McCann, A Milligan, J Kirkpatrick, Z Herbison, S Bennett, C McLauglin, M Waide, J Dawson

UNDER-17

Wakehurst 0, Foyle Harps 0

Wakehurst U17s welcomed Foyle Harps to the Showgrounds on Friday night and with the two teams sitting mid-table, it was expected to be a close game.

The match started with Wakehurst the stronger team, with James Cameron and Jamie Speirs pulling the strings in midfield.

Wakehurst could have taken the lead after fifteen minutes when James Cameron saw his well struck shot go inches wide of the upright.

Gradually Foyle Harps began to claw their way back into the game and found the Wakehurst defence of Johnny Hanlon, Niall Swann, Kalin McCollum and Thomas Brady in top form and dealing comfortably with whatever Foyle could throw at them.

Aodhan Tolan was having a good game in the Wakehurst nets and was called upon on a few occasions to be alert to the Foyle Harps throughball.

Into the second half and it was more of the same, with Swann, Hanlon, McCollum and Michael Laverty in outstanding form for the Ballymena boys and Aodhan Tolan looking comfortable in the Wakehurst nets.

With time running out, James Cameron was again lucky with a long range shot which clipped the outside of the post, in the final minutes of the game.

Northend: A Tolan, R Sloan, J Hanlon, T Brady, K McCollum, N Swann (c), J Cameron, J Speirs, R Gault, A McAvoy, K Jackson, S Hare, M Laverty, R Swan, J Nixon, C Waring

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Northend United’s Football Development Centre continues this Friday at Ballymena North Centre for boys and girls aged 4 to 10 from 6-7.30pm. For more information, please call John Devlin on 07919056834.