Round up of Ballymoney Youth Academy games

However as in recent weeks they started poorly, falling behind after five minutes 0-1. Having won the reverse fixture three weeks ago by 2-0 Ballymoney found themselves 2-0 down when the St Marys winger cut inside and finished well past McCook.

Chrissy Moore forced a good save from the keeper whose goal kick bounced through midfield into the path of a striker whose poor shot was fumbled into the net by the Ballymoney keeper 0-3. At the start of the second half the kids showed a lot of determination and looked a different team. Dunlop and Doherty forced good saves before a Ryan McCook tackle forced the ball forward to Moore who scored at the post 1-3.

The momentum had changed as McConaghie, O'Neill and Dunlop went close. St. Marys were holding on and when Ferris fired home from 12 yards with ten minutes left it became too much for the Belfast men on the touchline.

A disgraceful incident occurred and the match was abandoned by the referee. Hopefully this will be dealt with severely by the league.

Team: Lyndon McCook, Christopher Moore, Ryan McCook, Craig Cunningham, Conleth O'Neill, Mark McConaghie, Adam Jamison, Odhran Doherty, Andrew Dunlop, Danny Laverty, Conall Doherty, Rhys Ferris, Mark Kelly, Harry Kirkpatrick, Scott Douglas, Drew McCrellis,

U12s

BALLYMONEY had beaten Sion Swifts before but knew it would be a tougher task in the league cup.

The breakthrough came with Neill Shaw passing to Adam Patrick who crossed low into the area and Sam Mc Cooke finished the simple task of slotting it home.

A Sam McCooke cross was headed by Adam Patrick but came to Conor Gillen who caught his volley perfectly and the Sion Swifts goalie had no chance.

Sion Swifts had the brighter start this time winning a free kick just outside the box and the Sion Swifts captain made no mistake. 2-1 Ballymoney with 25 minutes left.

Sion Swifts looked to be favourites to at least earn a replay but Ballymoney again broke away on the counter attack. Sam McCooke passed to Fergal Dillon and he let fly, the Sion Swifts goalkeeper made a right mess of it and George Connolly did the honours of tapping it in to surely seal the victory. 3-1

Francis Cochrane, Aaron Mac Auley, Adam Alexander and John Joe O'Neill were in fine form.

Ballymoney had the final say with a Sam McCooke throw in to the corner flag which was pounced upon by Fergal Dillon, who won it off the defender and crossed low for Neill Shaw and he put it in the onion bag. Liam Coyle must also be thanked for his fabulous performance.

The team; Liam Coyle, Adam Alexander, Francis Cochrane, Aaron Mac Auley, John Joe O'Neill, Sam Mc Cooke, Fergal Dillon, Conor Gillen, Neill Shaw, Paul Lyttle, Adam Patrick, Gareth Stewart, George Connolly, Christopher McKeenan, Matthew Boreland. It was one of the best performances of the season, one to be proud of. Final Result; Ballymoney 4-1 Sion Swifts. The referee awarded Liam Coyle Man Of The Match.

U12's

BALLYMONEY were set with another long trip and tough match.

Maiden City had most of the possession in the opening 10 minutes and kept creating chances but their strikers couldn't get past Aaron Mac Auley and Conor Gillen who stood their ground.

An absolutely astonishing save from Liam Coyle yet again kept the home side at bay. The half time whistle blew with Ballymoney breathing a sigh of relief. Half Time Ballymoney 0-0.

Sam Mc Cooke was finding it easy getting past the Maiden City full backs and the same with Neill Shaw. Paul Lyttle and Adam Patrick were finding it difficult against the huge Maiden City defenders.

John Joe O'Neill was yet again Mr. Consistency and Adam Alexander was blocking every cross or shot that came his way.

George Connolly seemed to be quite an inspiration to the team when he came and new boy Uel Irwin was working brilliantly but Maiden City had a glorious chance right at the death to win it but their striker scuffed it over the bar. Final Score Ballymoney 0-0 Maiden City. Man Of The Match; Liam Coyle, for yet another great performance.

U/16s

BALLYMONEY took on the Cliftonville at Hydebank on Saturday and came away with a well earned point. On league positions

Cliftonville must have thought this would be another easy win but what a performance from Ballymoney. They started well and pressed their opponents all over the pitch and came close to scoring but Anderson and Freeman narrowly missed the target. Even when a bad mistake at the back to gifted Cliftonville an early goal, Ballymoney still caused problems but failed to turn the half chances into goals and the score remained 1-0 at the break.

Second half Ballymoney kept played at a high tempo which lead to C'Ville becoming more and more frustrated and the bad tackles on Ballymoney players were mounting up.

This was a hard match but the pressure eventually paid off when Ballymoney equalized. S Bacon was played in down the left and he kept his composure to slot the ball into the net 1.1. This was little more than they deserved. Ballymoney could have won this game but we were all happy with the result. Final score 1-1. Well done boys!

Team: O'Neill Wildsmith Harding Milligan King McBride Freeman Dorrian Carey Moore Anderson Barnes McLaughlin Bacon Hewitt