Wakehurst U-17s overcome neighbours for second time

The Northend teams also claimed a second memorable Derby win at the weekend with the U9s beating Carniny Amateurs 3-0 in a thrilling match.

Elsewhere in the North West and Coleraine District League, the U10 United team beat Coleraine Olympic 4-1, while the U10 Youth team lost to Dungiven Celtic. Both U8 teams played in a mini Blitz at Ballysally with the highlight being a 1-1 draw played between both teams before a large crowd of parents.

The U11s bowed out of this season’s NIBFA Cup losing narrowly to the Maiden City.

In the Lisburn Invitational Youth League, Mark Lecky’s U13s uncharacteristically lost to Carrick Rangers in a very close match whilst the U14s also lost to a good Carrick Rangers side.

UNDER-8

Saturday saw Northend United and Northend Youth U8s travel to Ballysally to take part in a Mini Blitz tournament against a number of other teams, including a mouth watering match that also paired them against each other.

The “derby” was all action and a credit to both teams that ended in a fair draw 1-1. Special mention goes to two new signings for Northend Youth Euan Pirie and Daire Higgins who were both outstanding in their debuts for the Club.

Northend United’s results were: Northend United 0, Dungiven Celtic 2; Northend United 5 (Callum Burnside (2), Pearse McAuley (2), Conan McKeown), Dungiven Colts 0; Northend United 2 (Callum Hendron 2), Portrush 0; Northend United 1 (Justin Mark), Northend Youth 1.

Northend United panel: P Murphy, J Mark, K McAllister, C Burnside, P McAuley (c), C Hendron, C McKeown,

Northend Youth’s results were: Northend Youth 0, Portrush 0; Northend Youth 1 (Euan Pirie), Dungiven Colts 0; Northend Youth 1 (Lewis Devlin), Northend United 1; Northend Youth 0, Dungiven Celtic 0.

Northend Youth panel: PP Donegan, L Devlin, C Lyness, D Higgins, S McDermott, D Patterson, E Pirie.

UNDER-9

Carniny Amateurs 0, Northend 3: Northend broke the deadlock when as the ball was cleared by a Carniny defender, Jay McKeown hit a shot from distance and watched it fly into the top corner past the Carniny keeper.

The same player did the exact same with his second goal when he won the ball and hit it from distance again to put Northend 2-0 at half time.

Northend went further infront when Jay McKeown got his hat-trick when a strong shot from the Northend captain flew into the net. MOM - Lee Turner, Stevie Bristow.

Northend: C Wilson, L Turner, B O’Neill, S Bristow, J McKeown (c), C McGarry, Z Irwin, I Wylie.

UNDER-10

Northend 4, Coleraine Olympic 1: Despite being light on numbers, Northend made the breakthrough on four minutes when Owen Campbell and Peter Bristow harried the Coleraine defence and forced an error which saw Bristow drill a breaking ball into the far corner.

Coleraine forced a corner on 16 minutes and scored when a deep cross deflected off a Northend defender and fell favourably to an Olympic player.

With twenty minutes gone, Jack Adams swung a corner kick into the goalmouth and Peter Bristow got ahead of his marker to smash a volley in off the cross-bar.

Ten minutes into the second half, Jack Adams and Ben O’Neill forced a Coleraine defender into a mistake which led to an own goal and from that point forward the Wee Blues created chance after chance. It was five minutes from the end however when Peter Bristow collected a loose ball in the centre of the pitch and powered his way through a gap to round off an impressive performance with his third of the day. MOM - Peter Bristow.

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

Northend Youth 1, Dungiven Celtic 6: Due to several players missing from the Northend line up they were never in this game as Dungiven were the better team for most of this game.

The only bright light for Northend was when Northend scored the goal of the game when Ciaran Martin scored a cracker after four players linked up to set him up and he finished coolly by placing the ball into the bottom corner.

Northend: C McMellon, C Wilson, B Harkin, C Martin, J McKeown, J McFetridge, L Hector

UNDER-13

Northend 2, Carrick Rangers 3: It was Carrick who took the lead on 15 minutes when Northend’s defence switched off at a Carrick throw-in , their left winger crossed to the far post, and their right winger converted to make it one nil.

Northend started the second half much the stronger side and dominated the early possession. Against the run of play, Carrick scored from a corner, when Northend failed to clear their lines.

Northend reacted almost immediately and when they forced yet another corner, the Carrick keeper fumbled Robert Iovu’s great delivery into his own net.

Northend had great chances to equalise from both open play and set-pieces, but just could not find that much-deserved equaliser.

Despite this, Carrick scored a third goal with seven minutes to go from a well-struck direct free kick from twenty yards.

With nothing to lose Northend went on the attack straightaway and scored through Ruairi Campbell with five minutes to go, to make it 3-2. It was all Northend until full-time but sadly they could not find the equaliser that their play probably deserved. MOM - John Brady.

Northend: C Brennan, S Frew, S Lecky, J Brady, R McCluney, T Patchett, C Gordon, R Iovu, M Willighan, R Campbell, P Kyle, T McAuley, C Fullerton.

UNDER-14

Carrick Rangers 6, Northend 0: Northend found themselves 1-0 at half time in this game playing against a strong breeze.

Into the second half and with the breeze at their backs, the Blues were hopeful of getting a result in this game. However Carrick were quickest out of the traps for the second half and raced to a 3-0 lead after fifteen minutes of the half, following some poor defending.

The Blues heads visibly began to drop and they conceded a fourth goal mid way through the half. With a number of substitutes on in the second half the Blues conceded two late goals to leave the final score 6-0 to Carrick Rangers

Northend: J Mark, A O’Boyle, D Bell, D Dobbin, J Hayburn, T Evans, A Shaw, G Macartney, B Millar, A Campbell, L McLean, S Hutchinson, J Wharry, E Mc Laughlin, M Kirk.

UNDER-17

Ballymena United 0, Wakehurst 1: Wakehurst U17s went into this match against local Irish League rivals Ballymena United full of confidence, following some good results.

Although the Wakehurst boys were minus a couple of regulars, they were looking to complete a league double over their neighbours, having beaten them 3-1 in an earlier fixture this season.

Ballymena started the match the brighter team but after ten minutes Wakehurst settled into the match and began to play the better football, taking the match to Ballymena.

Pushing for a goal Wakehurst finally got their just reward when five minutes before half time Jamie Speirs side stepped a couple of tackles before placing his shot into the corner of the net to give Wakehurst a 1-0 lead at half time. Half time score 1-0

Throughout the second half, no matter how much Ballymena tried, Aodhan Tolan in the Wakehurst goals had little to do while Stephen Hare and Andy Neill created numerous other chances, without getting their just reward.

After the match, the Wakehurst U17 coach, Melvyn Logan stated “The boys were again outstanding tonight, turning in another top performance in a season of highs for the team.”

Wakehurst: A Tolan, J Hanlon, A McAvoy, K McCollum, T Brady, J Cameron, J Speirs, C Waring, K Jackson, S Hare, A Neill, R Gault, L Scroggie, R Swan, N Swann

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Northend United’s Football Development Centre continued on Friday night at its winter indoor location of the Ballymena North Centre .With almost forty boys in attendance the future certainly looks bright for the progressive Club with plans already afoot for a new U8 (2007/2008) team for the 2014/15 season.

The Football Development Centre is open to all boys and girls aged 4 to 10 inclusive who are unconnected with any other Club and takes place each Friday night from 6.00pm to 7.30pm.

For more information, or to reserve your child a place on the course, please call John Devlin on 07919056834. Application forms can also be printed off the Northend website www.northendunitedyouthfc.co.uk

CONGRATULATIONS

All at Northend United were thrilled this week when current Wakehurst U17 player Jamie Speirs made his full debut for Wakehurst FC in the IFA Championship 2 league match against Glebe Rangers in midweek.

Jamie is one of a number of talented players who currently play in the National League for the Wakehurst U17 team and it won’t be long before more of the other youth team players make the transition to Irish League football.

In April 2013, Northend United Youth and Wakehurst FC announced their partnership, allowing Northend’s players the chance to progress to Irish League football with the Wakehurst Club and less than one year later the vision has become reality.

Northend United are always on the lookout for new talented players for each of their eleven youth teams and with this partnership, the Club can offer the benefits of local Irish League football.

Anyone interested in a trial should get in contact with the appropriate team manager whose details are listed on each team page on the club website www.northendunitedyouthfc.co.uk