It was a week of highs and lows for Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s. Tuesday night saw them meet with Armagh City to play out the final of the Mid Ulster Youth League. Both teams finished equally on points at the top of this year’s table - so they had to play for a third time this season to decide who would be crowned Mid Ulster Champions.

The teams met at Gortgonis Playing Field in Coalisland and Dungannon started as they meant to go on - attacking City’s defence immediately and played some excellent football. Their hard work and tenacity was rewarded early on in the game with DUY’s number 16, Adam Patterson opening Dungannon’s scoring with a fantastic run down the right side of the field, beating Armagh’s defence and securing a goal. Goal two followed very shortly with Gavin Corr hitting the back of Armagh’s net.

Dungannon had full control of the game - scoring a further four goals on the remaining first half. The goal scorers were Paul Donnelly (2), Daniel Kerr and Dalaigh Jones.

The second half say no more goals from either side. Dungannon maintained a lot of the possession right up to the final blow of the whistle.

DUY were awarded the Mid Ulster League Cup ensuring their place in the National League next season.

Man of the Match was awarded to Daniel Kerr, although all of the Dungannon under 11’s played with flair and determination. Congratulations Daniel!

Saturday saw the same two teams meet again. This time for the Mid Ulster Knock Out Cup Final, in Kernan, Portadown. The game started as it finished - messy and bitty, with not much free flowing football evident from either side. Dungannon hit the post on two occasions in the first half, but they were unable to make their play count. Frustration was evident on the the part of DUY and Armagh City were able to capitalise on this and score a goal before half time. Unfortunately for the DUY boys - the same team come out for the second half. They allowed their opposition too much of the ball, were hesitant in clearing any potential threats and were unable to make any of their attempts on goal count. Their normal style of football had left them entirely. Decisions that should have gone their way - were not given and eventually, late on in the second half, Armagh beat the DUY goal keeper once again - bringing the score to 2 - 0, which was the result when the final whistle blew. Armagh City were winners of the Mid Ulster KOC. Congratulations to Armagh.

DUY’s man of the match was awarded to Paul Donaghy for his hardwork throughtout the final. Well done Paul!

Congratulations must go to Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s for such a phenomenal season. They exceeded all expectations - firstly winning the trophy in the Under 12s group in the Preston Easter Cup Competition, then secondly, defeating Linfield 2 - 0 to become 2009 Northern Ireland Champions and thirdly, being crowned Mid Ulster League Champions.

This group of lads are testament to an unbelievable coaching team at Dungannon United Youth who work tirelessly witht he young people of Dungannon to produce excellent footballers.

Joe McAree, Tony Courtney and Dixie Robinson have all been so prolific in developing a committed, hardworking group of boys who week in, week out, show their dedication and passion in representing Dungannon in football.

Well done Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s - you’ve done us all proud!

Dungannon United Youth met with Linfield F.C on 16th May 2009 in Ulidia Playing Fields, Belfast for the final of the Northern Ireland Cup.

Dungannon’s journey into the final saw them meet and beat Templepatrick Alexander, St. Oliver Plunketts Youth Club, Corpus Christi and Glendowan, conceding 2 goals and netting 13.

Linfield was never going to be an easy match. Their winning streak in their league and their reputation proved that, but as always, our Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s relish a challenge and went to Belfast with the drive and determination to bring the Northern Ireland Cup back home with them to Dungannon.

Right from the initial blow of the whistle, DUY came out fighting, mounting pressure on the Linfield defence and within 2 minutes Paul Donnelly had put Dungannon in the lead with his well placed goal.

Dungannon raised their game further and were rewarded with a second goal within a short amount of time, scored this time by Shea Gordon.

Linfield tested the Dungannon defence on a few occasions, but all attempts were dealt with by the DUY defence and goal keeper, Jordan Hazleton did brilliantly when needed, to pull of some excellent saves.

The second half saw attempts made on both ends of the pitch, but no goals scored. The Dungannon United Under 11 team fought hard and were justly rewarded winners of the 2009 Northern Ireland Cup for the Under 11 Category.

Congratulations to Shea Gordon who was awarded Man of the Match for his excellent display of football in this NI Final. Well done Shea.

Considering the Dungannon boys are all home grown and had to beat a very strong Linfield team containing some of the countries top players - this win must go down as the clubs greatest ever!

This victory is testament to the hard work and quality coaching of everyone involves with DUY.

Praise and thanks has to go to Joe McAree and Tony Courtney for their organisation and belief in the DUY under 11 team. Their attention to detail in training these group of boys have created a solid and committed team.

The support of the parents and fans have shown this team throughout this season has been nothing short of amazing and this result is surely as precious to them as it is to the players and coaching team.

Dungannon United Youth continues to produce quality players from the local community and long may that success continue.

DUY under 11’s have 2 more finals to play this week. Firstly they are meeting Armagh in the Mid Ulster League Play off on Tuesday 19th May 2009 and secondly they will be meeting Armagh again in the Mid Ulster Knock Out Cup Final (date to be confirmed!) Good luck with these matches lads.

2 down - 2 to go! You can do it!

This past week saw the DUY under 11’s play 2 matches in the MId Ulster Knock Out Cup.

Wednesday took them to Kernan where they played Tandragee in what was a scrappy match due to a heavy cross wind. Both teams found it hard to control the ball and make their passes count. Fortunately it was the Dungannon lads who settled better and eventually found the net through, Shea Gordon, Oran Mallon, Paul Donnelly, Jason Stevenson and Adam Patterson.

The team showed signs of tiredness after playing so many matches in the past couple of weeks, but the management team, Joe and Tony made some tactical substitutions resting some of their players in the second half.

Man of the Match was awarded to Daniel Courtney on his excellent perormance on the left wing. Well done Daniel.

Saturday saw them travel once again to Kernan, only this time to meet Loughgall. The first half was reminiscent of Wednesday’s performance. Scrappy in parts but DUY were still able to go score 4 goals by half time. Goal scorers in the first half were: Gavin Corr, Paul Donnelly (2) and Shea Gordan.

The second half saw a better standard of play by the Dungannon boys. Some of their usual free flowing football were evident and and another 3 goals were added to their tally. This time the scorers were: Shea Gordon, Gavin Corr and Connor Murtagh. Connor’s goal has to be singled out as potentially one of the goals of the season when he connected left footed just outside the penalty box and rifled it into the top corner of the net.

Dungannon had all of the play in this match and could easily have doubled their score, but for the good efforts of the Loughgall keeper!

Man of the Match was awarded to Daniel Kerr for his unbelievable display of football. Congratulations Daniel on this performance.

Our under 11’s met with Glendowan Boys in the semi finals of the NI Cup at Lurgan Sports Arena today at 11:00am.

It must have been a concern for the management about how tired our lads would be after the phenonmenal performance they put on in Preston over last weekend, playing 6 games in 4 days, but from the beginning they came out with a will to win.

Within 4 minutes, Gavin Corr had managed to make a run at Glendowan’s defence and beat their goal keeper to put the DUY under 11 team 1 - 0 up. Usually an early goal settles our lads down and their play becomes more free flowing, but today the play remained scrappy after the initial goal.

DUY gave the ball away too easily in the first part of the first half and Glendowan Boys capitalised on this, scoring an equalizer within ten minutes.

Just before half time our boys were awarded a free kick in the oppositions half. Daniel Kerr curled the ball over the Glendowan defence and hit the back of the net reminiscent of the goal he scored for us in Preston.

The second half saw Joe and Tony’s yellow and blue army come out a different team. Their football was far more like their usual style. Our defence cleared any advances on goal Glendowan made with confidence. The midfield chased every ball and our forward players took shots on goal, managing to secure 2 further unbelievable goals.

Goal number 3 came ten minutes into the second half from a corner from Daniel Kerr which connected sweetly with Naoise Martin who headed it firmly into the back of the net.

Our fourth and final goal of the semi final was a team effort. Daniel Kerr making a fantastic run from midfield, beating the defence and making an excellent chip on the opposing goal, which was fumbled by the Glendowan Boys goal keeper but dropped into their penalty box and kicked over the line by Shea Gordan.

Man of the match was awarded to Naoise Martin for his determination and hard work throughout the match. Congratulations Naoise.

DUY will meet Linfield in the final of the Northern Ireland Cup. Venue and date to be confirmed.

DUY march into league play offs against Armagh City after beating Lower Maze in another high scoring game on Saturday.

It was a match DUY could not afford to lose as the 3 points would be essential to put them into the play off.

Bad weather conditions made for a scrappy first half, even though the DUY boys scored 4 goals their usual fluent football was not in evidence. Goals scorers in the first half were: Oran Mallon (2), Connor Murtagh and Paul Donaghy.

Half time saw Manager Joe McAree make a couple of important changes when he took Gavin Corr out of nets to play him in a centre forward position with Jordan Hazelton replacing him in goals. Left back, Naoise Martin was moved into a midfield role which saw him score twice.

Daniel Courtney replaced Connor Murtagh and Emmet Hughes took up the left back position. Oran Mallon added to his first half tally with another 2 goals and Gavin Corr, in his new role of centre forward notched up 4 goals to add to his ever increasing goal count.

Against the run of play, Lower Maze scored their only goal of the match when a well placed shot into the left hand side of goal beat the Dungannon goal keeper.

Continuous Dungannon pressure saw endless shots on the Lower Maze goal, which were adequately dealt with by their very impressive female keeper.

Some close ball control and nifty footwork by Adam Patterson created a lot of difficulties for the Lower Maze right back and Adam’s hard work and determination was justly rewarded when he scored 2 goals.

Man of the match was awarded to Oran Mallon. Well done Oran!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the DUY teams good luck in their Easter Cup Campaign in Preston.