Moyola Under 15s fall to late winner

Moyola Park U15 - 1

MOYOLA under 15s travelled to Institute on Saturday Morning in a North-West Cup game, in what was going to be a difficult match considering Institute beat them 5-1 at Moyola on the previous Wednesday evening.

However, with football being the funny game it is, this match threw up some surprises.

Moyola started the match minus no less than five regular starters, but everyone that played showed a passion and determination that surprised Institute.

Matthew McErlain had a fine game in goal, while Rory Young and Kyle McElhatton led a strong defence with Danny Devlin and James Murray.

An even game in first half, with some good football from both sides could well have seen Moyola take the lead but the match remained scoreless at half-time.

Early in the second half, a mistake in the Moyola defence allowed Institute in to score the first goal, but Moyola’s answer was to fight all the harder to find an equalizer.

Seamus Devlin nipped in from the wing and only some “desperate” defending stopped him from scoring. A few moments later what appeared to be a hand-ball inside the Institute area proved lucky for the home side when the Referee waved play on.

Undeterred, Moyola pressed on, and were rewarded when Ryan Sheeky scored a great goal to level the game.

With only minutes remaining Institute broke through and notched the winning goal, when a draw would have been a fair result. However, this was the first leg of a two legged encounter, with Institute still having to visit Moyola in the return.

Moyola can be very happy with their performance, and while some decisions did not go their way, they accept these things happen in football.

As regards a Man of the Match, that honour has to go to every single player, as they all showed great courage and ran themselves to a standstill. Well Done, Boys.

Moyola: Matthew McErlain, Danny Devlin, Rory Young, (Capt), Kyle McElhatton, James Murray, Seamus Devlin, Aidan Keenan, Ryan Sheeky, Conor Taggart, Paul McQuillan, Kyle Bradley, Emmet Crozier.