DUY Under 12’s Vs St. Oliver Plunkett’s Football Club (SOPFC)
The under 12 National Team endured their second defeat of the season when they were beaten by S.O.P.F.C 3 - 1 at the Junior Stadium in Dungannon last Wednesday evening.
Even though the boys were defeated it was a very enjoyable game with some excellent football being played.
The first ten minutes saw S.O.P.F.C attack the Dungannon defence but produce nothing that the DUY boys could not cope with. It was during this time that goal keeper Tom McDermott pulled off an excellent save and DUY started to come into the game after this and would have had the best attacking chances for the remainder of this half.
Half time came with the score remaining 0 - 0 and the only change that the DUY management made was when Paul Donelly replaced Cain Murtagh in a full forward position.
The Dungannon boys took up where they left off in the first half and continued to attack the oppositions goal, only to be denied by some good goal keeping and a tight defensive line.
With most of the pressure coming from Dungannon, it was certainly against the run of play when S.O.P.F.C broke and scored the opening goal to the delight of their management and travelling supporters.
Maybe the S.O.P.F.C’s side were still celebrating their goal and hadnt settled back into the game when Dungannon hit them quickly with an equalizer scored by Shea Gordon.
Once again, all was even with both teams continuing to play very open and entertaining football. The DUY lads kept pressing forward and were very unlucky not to take the lead when Shea Gordon again hit an incoming ball on the volley only to see it go over the top of the cross bar.
The oppositioin were not prepared to settle for a draw and once again - against the run of play, they broke away and scored an excellent goal to take the lead.
With the Dungannon team pushing for an equalizer they left their defence open and S.O.P.F.C and took full advantage and scored a third goal which in effect killed off the game for the Dungannon Under 12’s.
Other substitutions in the second half were: Connor Murtagh replacing Deane Kane and Jordan Halzelton replacing Dalaigh Jones.
Man of the match was awarded to left back Tomas Carney for his excellent display of defensive football. Congratulations Tomas.
Assistant Manager Tony Courtney said “During Wednesday’s game versus SOPFC I thought we were the better team and we were unfortunate to concede 2 goals after our equalizer. One big positive was the performance of Tomas Carney who was excellent right from the start.”
DUY Under 12’s Vs Cliftonville
With only three days rest from their defeat against S.O.P.F.C, Dungannon United Youth Under 12 National Team made the journey to the Mallusk Football pitches to meet Cliftonville. This match was a must win for DUY to give them any chance at all in contending for the title of the National League this season.
The first ten minutes of the first half saw the majority of play in the middle of the pitch with both DUY and Cliftonville’s midfield fighting for possession of the ball. Dungannon won this battle and managed to make a solid attack on goal resulting in them scoring the opener with thanks to a Cain Murtagh goal.
Any attempts Cliftonville made on the Dungannon goal was dealt with comfortably by keeper Jordan Hazelton who was certainly confident in commanding his area. Jordan’s big kick out cleared the midfield on numerous occasions and enabled the forwards to maintain the pressure on Cliftonville’s goal. It was from one of these attacks Dungannon were awarded a corner which resulted in Gavin Corr opening his score sheet for this season and adding another goal to the Dungannon tally.
At half time Manager Joe McAree and Assistant Manager Tony Courtney made some changes to the team bringing on Caolon Corr for Cain Murtagh and shortly into the second half Connor Murtagh was brought on to replace Gavin Corr.
Shea Gordon made a phenomenal run through the centre of midfield beating several of the Cliftonville players before passing the ball to Caolon Corr to tap in over the Cliftonville goal line increasing Dungannon’s lead to 3 - nil.
Dungannon certainly were in control of the match by now and played some lovely football against an increasingly frustrated Cliftonville side who in this period of play had 2 players red carded for consistant shirt pulling, bad tackles and dissent towards the referee. With Cliftonville down to 9 men on the field, Dungannon were awarded a free kick 45 yards from the Cliftonville goal and the task fell to Daniel Kerr to attempt to emulate his fantastic ability of scoring from a dead ball. Daniel’s ability to accurately place a ball into the top of the goal belies his young age, but once again Daniel came up trumps and buried the ball into the top left side of the goal bringing Dungannon’s goal score to 4 and leaving Cliftonville with their heads down.
A final substituation was made when Matthew O’Toole came on for Tomas Carney.
Manager Joe McAree said “It was a good result but we need to improve in a number of positions. Daniel Kerr is a top man and his free kick was something very special.”
Assistant Manager Tony Courtney echoed Joe’s sentiments by adding “We took our chances in this game and whilst at times we didn’t play particularly well we were worthy of the three points. Daniel Kerr was outstanding in midfield and his free kick was unstoppable. It was also good to have Shea Gordon returning to form after injury.”
Daniel Kerr’s outstanding display in this match earned him Man of the Match. Well done Daniel!
DUY Under 12 National Teams next match is at home against Bertie Peacock Youth
