SLIDESHOW: Carniny Youth end-of-season awards

The second night was allocated for the older age groups from Under 12 to Under 16s.

Club Chair, Anthony McCartney. praised all the players on their football development throughout the season commenting on how each team has acted for ambassadors for the club as they travelled and played all over Northern Ireland, the UK and further afield in Europe.

He also went on to commend the dedication and commitment of all the voluntary coaches and staff within the club and all the parents who bring their children to the club on a regular basis.

Club secretary Billy O’Flaherty then gave a brief run down on the club’s season.

Both the Under 9 teams entered into the world of competitive football up in Coleraine in the North West and Coleraine District Youth League with the Under 9 Youth earning some silverware at the end of the season getting their hands on their respective age group League Cup.

The two Under 10 teams continued their development in the NWCDYL for the second season, showing rapid improvement and gaining invaluable experience playing in various tournaments throughout the season.

The Under 11s were the oldest age group in the NWCDYL and coped well with their step up to nine a side football, again winning some silverware towards the end of their season with their NWCDYL Friendship cup win. The club’s older 11 a side teams all played in the NIBFA National League with The Under 12s having an impressive season, the only team from the Borough represented in the league. The boys qualified for the Premier Division, and more than held their own against the various Irish League Academy sides, finishing in fourth spot at the end. During the season the boys enjoyed the trip of a lifetime to Paris St Germain’s base in France and also won the Larne Soccer Sevens at Easter.

The Under 13s entered the National League for the first time this season and found it a steep learning curve at the start, but they soon got to grips with the standard of the league and were playing well in the second half of the season. Now they know the standard required and will be better equipped for the challenge next season.

Once again the Under 14s retained their spot in the Premier Division of the National League finishing the highest of the teams from the borough, reached the quarter finals of the NIBFA Cup and enjoyed another well organised trip to Portugal where they played some games in a very enjoyable week.

The Under 15s also finished the highest of the local teams in the National League helped by a good start to their season and also won themselves some silverware when they brought home the Southport Super Cup from England in May.

Again the Under 16s were the highest placed local team at the end of the season and enjoyed a trip to premier League side, Stoke City where they were trained in the Academy.

Billy then introduced three former players who had progressed through the ranks at Carniny Youth before moving on to play Irish league football at Senior Level. Rodney Brown (Linfield), Samuel McIlveen (Glenavon) and Jake Carson (Ballymena Utd) all helped to hand out the trophies to all the prize winners on the first evening.

The second evening ran much to the same format with the club sponsors on hand to hand out the prizes. Catherine Doherty handed out some prizes on behalf of sponsors Hulls, as did Davy Boyd on behalf of Karl Airport Parking. Stuart Hunter of McDonald’s, Ballymena was also handing out prizes on behalf of the club’s kit Sponsor.

The full list of prizewinners was:

UNDER-9

Youths: Players’ Player of the Year (Joint) Conlin Neill, Jack Kennedy; Amateurs: Players’ Player of the Year – Joel Murray

UNDER-10

Amateurs - Players Player of the Year – Timothy McClure; Youth - Players’ Player of the Year – Harry Foster.

UNDER-11

Goal Scorer - Ross Kerr, Runner Up – Taylor Adger; Sportsperson – Oran McMullan; Players’ Player of the Year – Ross Kerr, Runner Up - Matthew Gregg; Manager’s Player of the Year – Niall Pogue, Runner Up – Connor Friel.

UNDER-12

Goal Scorer – Lee Lynn, Runner Up – Aiden Graffin, Sportsperson – Nic Moore, Players Player of the Year – Adam Lamont, PPOY Runner Up – Aiden Graffin, Managers Player of the Year – Lee Lynn, MPOY Runner Up – Kyle Anderson

UNDER-13

Goal Scorer – Joshua Courtney, Runner Up – Conor Stewart, Sportsperson – Adam Gordon, Players Player of the Year – Isaiah Close, PPOY Runner Up – Mark Winter, Managers Player of the Year – Mark Winter, MPOY Runner Up – Sammy Clyde

UNDER-14

Goal Scorer (Joint) – Seaan Elliott, Cory Little, Sportsperson – Callum Scullion, Players Player of the Year – Shea o’Brien, PPOY Runner Up – Ronnie Marshall, Managers Player of the Year – Jamie Houston, MPOY Runner Up – Cathair Henderson

UNDER-15

Goal Scorer – Conor Doherty, Runners Up – Calum McGall, Philip Maybin and Jamie Houston, Sportsperson – Matthew McComb, Players Player of the Year – Thomas Campbell, PPOY Runner Up – Calum McGall, Managers Player of the Year – Simon Evans, MPOY Runner Up – Joint – Thomas Campbell, Philip Maybin

UNDER-16

Goal Scorer – Matthew Shevlin, Runner Up – Tyrone Balmer, Sportsperson – Travis McWilliams, Players Player of the Year – Matthew Shevlin, PPOY Runner Up – Owen Macartney, Managers Player of the Year Joint – Matthew Shevlin/Owen Macartney,

Chairman’s Award – Under 16 player, Krystian Jaworskhi

Stewartie McAuley Junior Team of the Year – Under 11s

Bob Mullan Senior Team of the Year – Under 16s.