High five for Ballycastle

Taylor Cup 1st XI

BALLYCASTLE travelled to Lisburn on Wednesday of last week to play their final group game of the Taylor Cup against Laurelhill. Both teams had won all previous games, with the winner of this game guaranteed top spot in the group.

The game began with both sides playing cautiously and the first five minutes were a battle between the midfielders. Ballycastle’s Craig Henry and Steven Morrison fought hard against their opponents with Mark Mc Allister and Ryan Esler trying to pick up scraps to start an attack.

After eight minutes Ballycastle showed signs of gaining the upper hand, after a period of possession in Laurelhill’s area the ball fell to Aaron Douglas. His snapshot flew toward the bottom corner but was stopped by an outstanding save by the keeper, at full stretch.

Ballycastle continued to put pressure on the hosts who were finding it difficult to retain possession for any length of time.

A combination of stern tackling and missed opportunities by Ballycastle left it scoreless approaching the final minute of the half but finally the break through came.

The industrious Mark McAllister worked himself into a position to shoot from just inside the Laurelhill circle. The shot beat the keeper but the defender on the line stopped the ball with his feet and a penalty flick was, rightfully, awarded. Aaron Douglas stepped up confidently to flick the ball to the keeper’s right and into the bottom corner.

Laurelhill looked deflated when they restarted with the push back and less than a minute later they found themselves two goals down. After dispossessing the Laurelhill midfielders Ballycastle surged forward, and a great strike from the edge of the box was expertly deflected into the roof of the net by Aaron Douglas for his second goal of the game.

Half time: Laurelhill Community College, Lisburn 0-2 Ballycastle High School

After a tough half time team talk, Laurelhill regrouped and came out with more purpose in the second half and began strongly; but they found the defensive line of Daniel Jamieson, Scott Horner, Sean Midgley and Craig Henry in unbeatable form.

The next goal was crucial and on their first meaningful attack of the second half Ballycastle scored a third. Excellent work from Craig Henry put Richard Mc Conaghie through; he expertly drew in the defender before slipping the ball to Trevor Linton. Linton continued the excellent move by racing clear and flicking the ball past the on rushing keeper into the corner of the goal.

This goal ended the game competitively and Ballycastle went on to score soon after through Trevor Linton again. He had no hesitation in firing the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the circle half way through the second half.

The home team’s discipline came into question as Ballycastle surged forward with attack after attack and the final goal of the game came when they were awarded another penalty flick late on. Sean Midgley stepped up this time to wrong foot the keeper and score his first ever goal for the school to leave the away side deservedly five goals to the good.

Ballycastle now progress as group winners to the semi-finals with six wins from six games having scored twenty eight goals in the process and conceding only twice. They await the team who finish runner up in Section B to be confirmed as their opponents.