Mullan proud of County youngsters

The Junior lads under Ollie Mullan’s management reached the Slemish Trophy Final, before they lost to Aspire 4-3 on penalties in Friday’s tie.

Mullan’s teenagers narrowly missed out on winning their group when they were awarded a 2-0 victory over Club Marcet after they withdrew, but the local youngsters suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat to English side Swindon Town.

They put that disappointment behind them and secured an impressive 6-5 penalties victory over Premiership giants Everton, after the match had finished 2-2, a close 1-0 success over County Antrim in the last four booked their place in the final.

Manager Mullan was delighted by his youngster’s progress throughout the competition.

“I was extremely proud of the bunch of the lads, every one of them really bought into our way of thinking for the competition and as I have said I was really proud of them all,” admitted Mullan.

“They have been working with me for the last 10 to 12 weeks and have taken on board our training methods, dietaries and discipline.

“In fact for the entire week the squad trained, ate and did everything as if they were professional footballers.”

Mullan also felt that not having a game on Monday affected his young side.

“To be honest not playing on the Monday didn’t help us, in fact the lads had Milk Cup opening day nerves on the second day and in the Swindon game it showed.

“We were coasting and then gifted them two goals, so to lose was disappointing, but we battled back against Everton the next day, when we were trailing 2-0 before coming back, and winning on penalties was super.

“We never gave up in that game and our fitness in those two matches was super, in fact some of the Swindon players went down with cramp, while my boys were looking to play another match.

“In the semi-final it was a very tough game, but we got a late goal to book our place in the final. I knew it was going to be hard against Aspire because I had watched them on the Thursday and that was the case.

“They kept the ball well and played a system, which I have to admit was very difficult to break down, however we took the game to penalties but they were unfortunately that little bit more clinical with their penalties.”

Elsewhere in the prestigious tournament local men Shane Ferguson and Dean Jarvis played their part in Northern Ireland’s Elite side’s campaign, unfortunately the duo played in Steve Beaglehole’s side which lost 3-0 to USA in Friday night’s final.