Teens win on the road

Institute U17...3

INSTITUTE Under 17 made a two hundred mile round trip to Newcastle, County Down, on Saturday and came away with a win and a place in the last sixteen of the NI Boys Cup.

But for the heroics of Chris Hale in the home goal the score line could have been more emphatic as the keeper produced a string of fine saves to keep the Drumahoe boys at bay.

The first real chance of the game came in the 12th minute when in-form Gareth Irvine raced through on goal, Hale parried the strikers initial shot and from a tight angle Irvine could only find the side netting with the follow-up.

A minute later Lee Olphert broke free on the left and squared the ball for Jack King who sliced his shot wide of the target from 12 yards.

Hale produced a remarkable double save on 19 minutes after keeping out Irvine’s initial shot he somehow recovered to block Daz Matharu’s point blank effort.

The visitors continued to pile on the pressure and a swift counterattack saw them race from one end of the pitch to the other following a Tollymore corner.

Nicky Morton latched on to the loose ball and the midfielder broke forward before finding Matharu who turned and played a delightful pass to Irvine but this time the front man hurried his shot from the edge of the box and the ball sailed over the crossbar.

Two minutes later Institute did break the deadlock and it was Irvine who finally got his rewards. Shane Porter brought the ball out of defence and found Irvine who combined with Matharu before releasing Olphert and his cross from the by-line was lashed into the roof of the net by the striker.

The Drumahoe youngsters had strong appeals for a penalty waved away when Irvine was bundled over inside the box just as he was about to deliver another telling pass.

Institute continued to dominate but right on the stroke of half time they found themselves back on level terms after failing to deal with a long through ball, Niall Fitzpatrick raced clear and fired the ball low beyond the reach of David McFaul in the ’Stute goal to make it one each.

Within minutes of the restart the Drumahoe side restored their advantage and it was another quick break which undid a Tollymore defence that continued to hold a high defensive line despite the fact that their opponents where breaking through time and time again. On this occasion it was Olphert, who had an outstanding game, racing clear and seeing his shot across goal being tipped away by Hale at full stretch.

From the resulting corner Porter’s powerful downward header deceived the defender and keeper on the goal line and the ball bounced up into the net.

Midway through the half Stute scored what proved to be the decisive third goal as substitute Michael Barr drilled the ball into the bottom corner of the net from a free-kick 20 yards out after Aaron Tarr had been brought down.

The Waterside men produced some fine possession football to control the remainder of the game and in the dying minutes they almost got a fourth in freakish circumstances when James Ferry’s driven cross flew over the head of Hale and crashed off the crossbar before being hooked clear by a defender.

Institute U17: David McFaul, Connor Neely, Shane Porter, Andrew Callen, Robbie Brown, Andrew Stevenson, Jack King, Nicky Morton, Daz Matharu, Gareth Irvine, Lee Olphert. Subs: Connor Moran, Michael Barr, Aaron Tarr, James Ferry, Matthew Pierce.