Under-13s are Northend’s star turns once again

Northend U13s again turned in the Club’s performance of the week as they dominated their match against Greenisland, winning by a 4-1 scoreline.
Northend United player Ronan McKillop clears the ball as Ballymena Youth player Sean McIntosh moves in. INBT13-254ACNorthend United player Ronan McKillop clears the ball as Ballymena Youth player Sean McIntosh moves in. INBT13-254AC
Northend United player Ronan McKillop clears the ball as Ballymena Youth player Sean McIntosh moves in. INBT13-254AC

Elsewhere in the Lisburn League the U14s and U15s lost their League matches against Downpatrick and Oxford Sunnyside respectively.

The younger competitive teams had a mixed bag of fortune in the North West and Coleraine District league with the U11 Youth team drawing their match against Ballycastle United, and the U11s United and U10s losing their matches against Coleraine Olympic and Coleraine Academy.

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The U12s had no competitive fixture at Ballysally this weekend but were involved in a friendly match against local neighbours Ballymena United.

Ballymena's Robbie Gilchrist and Northend's Ryan McQuillan chase  loose ball. INBT13-258ACBallymena's Robbie Gilchrist and Northend's Ryan McQuillan chase  loose ball. INBT13-258AC
Ballymena's Robbie Gilchrist and Northend's Ryan McQuillan chase loose ball. INBT13-258AC

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The Small-Sides Games tournament for U9’s organised by the Irish FA on Saturday morning at the Showgrounds 3G pitch has now grown to ten teams. Northend has three teams in this tournament including the United, Youth and Pumas teams.

Northend United Panel: L Devlin, J Mark, C Burnside, P McAuley, O Maka, A Long and C McKeown

Northend Youth Panel: S McDermott, K McAllister, P Mitchell, D Kowalski, E Pirie, D Patterson and PP Donegan

Ballymena Youth player Sam Millar and Northend player Pat Ferris challenge for the ball. INBT13-260ACBallymena Youth player Sam Millar and Northend player Pat Ferris challenge for the ball. INBT13-260AC
Ballymena Youth player Sam Millar and Northend player Pat Ferris challenge for the ball. INBT13-260AC
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Northend Pumas Panel: C Martin, P Murphy, P Martin, C Lutton, T Hasson, R Dunne, C O’Hara and C Reid.

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Northend United 4, Coleraine Academy 7: Northend were unlucky to fall 2 goals behind within the first 10 minutes.

Stevie Bristow was dominating the midfield and on one of his runs from midfield he played the ball wide to Lee Turner who squared it for Jay McKeown to fire the ball into the top corner.

Ballymena's Scott McCullough (left) and Adam Gaston force Northend player Harry Wylie to clear the ball. INBT13-259ACBallymena's Scott McCullough (left) and Adam Gaston force Northend player Harry Wylie to clear the ball. INBT13-259AC
Ballymena's Scott McCullough (left) and Adam Gaston force Northend player Harry Wylie to clear the ball. INBT13-259AC

Ben O’Neill was having another commanding game in defence and with one of his trademark runs down the left wing he played the ball through to Another Shea O’Broin free kick was headed clear and the ball fell to Ryan Campbell who burst up the pitch playing it wide to Turner who crossed it for O’Broin who was running in at the back post to rifle the ball into the roof of the net.

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Coleraine came back in the last 10 minutes of the first half to draw level at 3 all but Northend quickly responded when a quick throw in from O’Neill found Bristow in space just outside the box who let the ball run across his body and fired a sweet right foot shot into the bottom corner of the net for his first goal of the season.

PJ O’Donnell kept Northend in the game with 2 great saves but could do nothing with Coleraine’s fourth goal to leave the score 4-4 at half-time.

Northend never quite got going in the second half as well as they did in the first half with Coleraine dominating possession for long periods, the Ballymena boys conceded three more goals. MOM - S Bristow

Northend: PJ McDonnell, R Campbell, S Bristow, B O’Neill, J McKeown, S O’Broin, E Mitchell, L Turner.

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Northend United 1, Coleraine Olympic 2: Coleraine edged ahead on three minutes when a partially cleared free-kick resulted in a goal-mouth scramble and a Coleraine toe forced the ball over the line.

Lewis Hector drew his side level on eleven minutes when he picked up a loose ball on the half way line and neatly beat two players before spotting the goal keeper off his line; the young striker coolly flicked the ball into the air and sent a half volley soaring high over the Coleraine keeper and into the net from all of 30 yards.

For some unknown reason the Ballymena boys really struggled to get going for the opening five minutes of the second half and conceded a silly goal from a corner kick when they appeared to have possession of the ball. MOM - Owen Campbell and Kevin Cosgrove.

Northend: C Wilson, D Magill, P Bristow, J Adams, K Cosgrove, J McIlhatton, O Campbell, C McMillan, L Hector, D McKay and C McMurray.

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Northend United 2, Ballycastle United 2: This young Blues team has been hitting a rich vein of form since the turn of the year and this result was another good result for Brian Martin’s team.

Northend: C Lennon; D Killough; C O’Brien; N Devine; B Harkin; J Connor; C Martin; C Mellon; C McKillop; L Allen.

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Northend United 4, Greenisland 1: For the second week in a row Northend got off to a great start when Ryan Mark scored after a minute when Ross Gamble cut in from the right wing and passed into the Greenisland box for Ryan Mark to run onto and place into the far corner.

Northend went further in front when McDonald scored direct from a corner in the 13th minute.

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Northend let Greenisland back into the game and they scored from a ball that was not cleared properly and the Greenisland striker gave Jason Givens in the Northend goal no chance. The score stayed 2-1 at half time.

Northend came out for the second half with a different attitude and really took control of the game with Callum Forsythe scoring with a neat chip over the Greenisland keeper from twenty yards before Ryan Boomer scored from close range to finally finish off the Greenisland Boys.

Northend: J Givens, C Forsythe, J Coates, R Dunlop, R Gamble, C Meeke, J Kirkpatrick, C McDonald, R Mark, M Stewart, A Mooney, C Metrustry, M Rainey, R Boomer.

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Downpatrick 4, Northend United 0: Northend contested this game against top of the table Downpatrick with only 12 fit players. Although they lost this game by four goals, Northend were well in this game until Downpatrick scored twice in the last 4 minutes. Northend should not be too disappointed as they matched Downpatrick, for most of this match.

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Hopefully this team will get a much needed boost, when 3 injured first teamers return back to training next week. MOM - Ryan Lorimer, John Brady, Robert Iovu

Northend: C McGarry, R Jones, T McAuley, R Lorimer, S Frew (c), N Craig, M Willighan, J Brady, R Iovu, T Patchett, C Fullerton, C Gordon

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Northend United 0, Oxford Sunnyside 6: An understrength Northend team missing a number of regulars turned in a disappointing performance at the weekend in their match against Oxford Sunnyside, a team they drew with only a few weeks ago.

The Blues conceded the first goal after twelve minutes of the game, following a defensive lapse and this was followed by a second goal five minutes later. Oxford added a third goal just before half time.

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Into the second half and the Blues were making more of a game of it but Oxford scored a fourth goal after 15 minutes and the Northend heads began to drop. Oxford ran in two late goals to seal their win.

Northend: J Mark, J Penny, A Shaw, J Hayburn, E McLaughlin, S Hutchinson, B Millar, J Adams, M Kirk, A Campbell, G Macartney, R Laverty, J Stevenson, R Campbell

COACHING QUALIFICATIONS

All at the Club would like to extend their best wishes to Northend United coaches John Devlin and Brian O’Hara who this week completed their UEFA B Part 1 Coaching Qualification, in conjunction with the Irish FA.