Under-11s provide festive cheer for Northend

Four different goalscorers added to a really good performance as one of Northend’s youngest teams turns heads in the Lisburn league.

However Performance of the week goes to the U14s who although losing to Lisburn Distillery by a 2-1 margin, were very unlucky not to take all the points in a match they dominated for long periods, playing some entertaining football in a real team-like performance.

Elsewhere in the Daily Mirror Lisburn Youth League, their were defeats for the U15s and U16s against windmill and Donegal Celtic respectively, while Wakehurst U17s lost their match against Annagh United.

The U13s exited the NIBFA Cup against Dungannon Youth in a close fought match, after leading 2-1 at half time.

UNDER-11

COlin Valley 0, Northend United 4: The last time these two sides met Northend were without their keeper and 3 outfield players and suffered a 6-0 defeat, so it was nice to put that nightmare to bed on a very windy day in Lisburn.

Northend went ahead with three minutes of the first half left when O’Neill went in for a 50/50 tackle and as the ball ricocheted out left and set up Shea O’Broin who hit a beauty of a 20 yard shot into the roof of the net leaving the Colin Valley keeper with no chance.

Early in the second half, Zach Erwin also ran the ball out of defence and hit a peach of a left foot drive from twenty five yards that cannoned back off the post, then the moment came for Northend to further their lead as an O’Broin corner seemed to swerve with the wind and came back off the crossbar it was McAvoy who rose the highest to send a bullet header into the net.

Now Northend really got going and as the non-stop working Stevie Bristow sent a pass into McKeown with his back to goal on the edge of the box he took one touch and turned full circle to drive the ball into the bottom of the net to make it three.

With just minutes of the match remaining, a foul committed out on the left on McKeown resulted in a yellow card for the Colin Valley player and a right footed free kick from McKeown over the wall and into the net to round off another great performance against strong opposition.

Northend: G McClean, B Adams, Z Erwin, C McAvoy, J Magill, B O’Neill, S Bristow, K Wakefield, J McKeown.

UNDER-12

Lisburn Ladies U-14s 1, Northend United 0: The boys put in a good performance against a Lisburn Ladies U14 squad with 4 internationals in their side who proved a very strong match for the Ballymena boys.

In a game of very few chances it was Lisburn who edged themselves in front with ten minutes gone in the second half.

Lewis Hector again went close as did Callum McMurray and Kevin Cosgrove. Jack Adams made a great tackle late in the game to snuff out a rare Lisburn attack, but time eventually ran out for the Ballymena side. Full-time 0-1

Northend: C Wilson, S McDowell, K Cosgrove, D Magill, T Mitchell, J Adams, K Barr, L Hector, C McMurray, David McKay.

UNDER-13

Dungannon Youth 4, Northend United 2: Dungannon took the lead from a corner when their tall No 5 headed straight at the keeper who took a step over the line.

Northend deservedly got the equaliser towards the end of the first half when Patrick Ferris broke clear and planed the ball into the corner of the Dungannon net.

With the wind at their backs, Northend created a number of chances in the second half and Ronan McKillop found Patrick Ferris down the right and a lovely cross to the back post found Adam Campbell who easily beat the keeper.

However Dungannon didn’t lie down and came back at Northend. Harry Wylie had to leave the field after failing awkwardly and Dungannon capitalised in the aftermath to get back level in this game.

Northend supporters were flabbergasted when the referee awarded a penalty for a push in the box and with Dungannon converting the penalty they now took a slender 3-2 lead in the game.

With almost the last kick of the game Dungannon got their fourth goal as Northend went chasing the game.

Northend: J Morrow, R McQuillan, J Casey, P Esler, H Wylie (c), J Montgomery, R McKillop, C Higgins, C Campbell, C Richmond, P Ferris, A Campbell, C McGaughey.

UNDER-14

Northend United 1, Lisburn Distillery 2: Northend were looking to reverse the 7-2 thrashing they suffered at the hands of Distillery earlier in the season and were desperately unlucky not to have picked up all three points.

In the 17th minute Northend were caught with a sucker punch on the break and Distillery took the lead. The Blues then hit the cross bar from Conor McDonald’s well struck free kick.

Unfortunately the Ballymena lads were caught out again in the second half as Distillery caught them on the counter and found themselves 2-0 up totally against the run of play.

With 15 minutes left to play Northend pressed for a way back into the game which duly came as Captain Conor McDonald followed up on a Rio Dunlop strike to make it 2-1. The Blues pressed and pressed for an equaliser and had numerous goal scoring chances but failed to convert any of them before the final whistle blew.

Northend: J McCalmont, M Stewart, C Forsythe, J Dallas, J Kirkwood, R McMullan, R Mark, C Metrustry, D Robinson, C McDonald, J Coates, S Foster, Z Clarke, R Dunlop.

UNDER-15

Northend United 2, Windmill 6: After ten minutes, Windmill hit Northend on the break and the ball fell to their right winger who coolly slotted the ball into the Northend net.

However Northend kept their heads up and five minutes later won a free kick on the half way line. From Robert McCluney’s over the top free kick the ball fell to Philip Kyle who calmly slipped it past the Windmill keeper.

With play swinging from end to end, Windmill scored another two goals before half time.

Northend came out fighting in the second half and immediately took the game to Windmill. An error by the Windmill keeper allowed Luke Herbison to score for Northend leaving the score 2-3. This goal visibly lifted Northend and they now enjoyed the majority possession in the game. However Windmill ran in three late goals in the game to take the shine off a much improved Northend performance.

Northend: C Brennan, L Parker, S Frew, R McCluney, S Lecky, R Wilkinson, C Young, P Kyle, C Fullerton, R Dunlop, L Herbison, C Laverty, C McKay, M Robinson, D Magill.

UNDER-17

Wakehurst 0, Annagh United 3: Wakehurst were dealt a blow just before kick-off in this match when regular goalkeeper Jamie Stevenson felt unwell and Lewis McFall donned the No 1 jersey.

Already missing a number of regulars this was always going to be an uphill task for the Ballymena boys but the game was still scoreless at half-time.

Into the second half and Annagh scored their first goal after ten minutes when a bizarre overhead kick got caught in the strong wind and ended up in the back of Wakehurst’s net.

Annagh increased their lead after twenty five minutes of the half when their winger was allowed to glide past three Wakehurst defenders and plant the ball into the corner of the Wakehurst net.

As Wakehurst went chasing the game Annagh scored a third goal following a mistake by a Wakehurst player.

Wakehurst: L McFall, J Lowry, L McAllister, J Timms, S Bennett, T Campbell, O Dick, J Dawson, A Milligan, M Cochrane, B Cairns, M Waide, C Neilly, J Stevenson.