Paul Donaghy, Shea Gordan, Dailagh Jones, Daniel Kerr and Naoise Martin were all invited to Belfast on Sunday 29th March 2009 by Manchester United School of Excellence for trials.

The boys joined other young players from other clubs across Northern Ireland. All the boys involved performed well, doing themselves and their clubs proud.

The Man United coaches told our boys that they would carry on watching them….so watch this space!

Well done lads! Keep up the good w0rk!

Congratulations to Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s for qualifying for the Northern Ireland Cup Semi Finals. They will meet Glendowan on Gordan Pitch in Lurgan on Saturday April 18th.

After a meeting on Tuesday 31st March, it was decided that our under 11’s would be awarded the match after the Northern Ireland Quarter Final match was abandoned on the previous Saturday due to ungentlemanly conduct from the opposing team’s managers.

Calm heads were shown by our own management team, Joe McAree and Tony Courtney in the way they handled the situation and more importantly the example of good sportmanship and fair play they set to the young players in their charge.

Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s met Donegal Celtic on Saturday in Gordon Park, Lurgan.

Before the match started there was a sombre note when both teams stood for a minutes silence in honour of the memory of Oisin McGuinness who tragically passed away last week whilst participating in one of the Mid Ulster Matches.

Once the match started the DUY under 11’s didn’t take long to get into their stride putting Donegal Celtic onto the back foot with constant attacks on goal. Before the first goal was scored by Shea Gordan, DUY had a few near misses as well as a goal disallowed for being offside. As in so many other DUY matches, the boys settled down once the first goal was scored and then then flood gates seemed to open and our lads produced another high scoring win with goals coming from Gavin Corr, Paul Donnelly, Daniel Kerr, Oran Mallon and Paul Donaghy.

A stroke of good management by Joe McAree saw him replace his goal keeper Gavin Corr with Jordan Hazelton. Gavin played this match in a centre forward position and soon was on the score sheet, netting 2!

The defence had very little to do in this game and the second half saw most of them pushing forward, hoping to get onto the score sheet! It was in this period of play that a penalty was awarded to DUY and centre back Naoise Martin stepped forward to take it. Even though Naoise’s penalty was saved it rebounded to his partner at the back Paul Donaghy who put it safely into the back of the net! If you listen to Naoise - this wasn’t a missed penalty, but team work at it’s best!

Man of the Match this week went to Paul Donaghy, not only for his goal, but for an outstanding display of all round football. Well done Paul!

Next week sees the visit of Corpus Christi to play our Under 11’s in the Quarter Finals in the Northern Ireland Cup for an 11 am kick off at the Junior Stadium, Dungannon.

Good luck boys for next weeks cup match!

We would also like to wish Paul Donaghy, Naoise Martin, Dailagh Jones, Shea Gordan and Daniel Kerr all the best for their trials at Manchester United’s School of Excellence next Sunday!

Every match is important for Dungannon United Youth Under 11’s if they want to keep their chance at contending with the top of the Mid Ulster League Table!

Today took DUY under 11’s to Kernan to meet Tandragee.

Almost immediately Dungannon were put under pressure when Tandragee midfield chipped the ball over our defence and beat goal keeper Gavin Corr.

The whistle had barely blown to start the game when DUY uncharacteristically had to chase the game to regain control.

Some excellent passing from our lads saw Connor Murtagh beat a fantastic Tandragee goal keeper to equal the score and settle the DUY boys down enough to start playing better football and maintain some decent possession.

It wasn’t long until Dungannon took the lead with Paul Donnelly adding to his amazing goal scoring tally this season. Daniel Kerr didn’t take long to get in on the action, producing one of his brilliant chips, nestling the ball into the top left hand corner of the opposing net.

DUY’s number 5, Naoise Martin rivaled Daniel Kerr for the goal of the match when he blasted the ball from outside the penalty box to bring his season tally to two.

The second half was DUY back at their best, winning balls, passing solidly and making plenty of shots on goal. Praise must go to the Tandragee goalie who pulled off some excellent saves throughout the match.

By the full time whistle, goals had also been scored by Shea Gordon, Oran Mallon, Adam Patterson and Captain Dailagh Jones, who also was awarded Man of the Match for yet another solid performance.

Congratulations boys on your high scoring win!

Today St. Oliver Plunketts travelled to the Junior Stadium to meet our Dungannon United Youth’s Under 11 team in the Northern Ireland Cup.

This match was a must win for our lads to have a chance at lifting the elusive cup at the end of the season.

Dailagh Jones once again captained the team and was instrumental in leading his players to this important win. His determination to win every ball encouraged other players to do the same.

Adam Patterson opened the scoring early on in the match which certainly helped ease the pressure and nerves that our boys must have been feeling. It was a well taken goal, ably assisted by Jordan Hazleton. Adam played the remainder of the match how he started it, never shying out of tackles and continuously putting the SOPYC defenders under pressure with his seering runs down the wing and perfect crosses into the penalty box.

Goal 2 saw Shea Gordan add to his scoring tally this season. After some scrappy play in the penalty box Shea was able to control the ball and put it passed a very promising SOPYC goal keeper.

Some fantastic interplay of football between Naoise Martin and Jordan Hazelton led to Connor Murtagh scoring the third goal. Connor stayed cool under pressure against 2 defenders to eventually put the ball in the back of the net.

The second half saw a different DUY under 11’s appear. The team seemed to sit back on their laurels and allow SOPYC to come at them and play football. The first ten minutes of the second half saw the away team score a lucky goal, chipping Gavin Corr on the goal line.

Realising that they were starting to put themselves under pressure made our lads fight harder and not allow the away team to have as much of the ball.

A fantastic free kick by Paul Donaghy found Adam Patterson just outside the penalty box. Adam connected with a perfect volley and was extremely unlucky to see the ball just inch past the post.

This was another fine performance by DUY under 11’s with Paul Donaghy, Dailagh Jones, Naoise Martin, Daniel Kerr, Adam Patterson and Shea Gordan playing some excellent football, but on this occasion Shea Gordan was awarded Man of the Match - Well done Shea. Congratulations on a good display of football.

Well done to all the team and their management on another entertaining game! Keep it going DUY under 11’s