A hat-trick of hat-tricks for free-scoring Carniny sides

There were quite a few goals scored in all the matches with three separate hat tricks along the way.

Matthew Shevlin’s hat trick sent the 16s on the way to a win against local neighbours Ballymoney, whilst there was another hatrick from Lee Lynn in the Under 12s match, as they kept up their challenge to finish top half before their league splits, with a good 3-1 win against Portadown Youth.

The Under 10 Youth team continued their high scoring trend including yet another hat trick from Harry Foster as they netted eight against Portrush. The Under 11s certainly had to work hard for their win, coming back from 2 goals down to beat Institute 4-3. There was no such joy for the 9s, 13s, 14s and 15s who all lost.

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Carniny 1, Coleraine Academy 5: Carniny were 3-0 down before they pulled one back when Kennedy scored from a tight angle.

Coleraine scored twice more in the second half as Carniny tired but it was another step in the boys’ development as they prepare for competitive matches after Christmas.

Carniny Youth: Greer, Scott (capt), Graham, Magee, Neill, Moody, Kennedy, Hanna, Courtney

Carniny Amateurs 2, Ballymoney Athletic 5: A disappointing result but the boys kept battling despite the score to the final whistle.

Carniny: McGreevey, McMullan, Douglas, Murray (capt) Graham, McQuillan, Strange, Wylie, McKee.

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Carniny 8, Portrush 2: Carniny scored eight goals for the second week running in this win.

Carniny scored four goals in the opening eight minutes through Diego Fletcher, Harry Foster (2) and Ryan Clarke before Portrush pulled a goal back.

Fletcher scored his second and Foster completed his hat-trick before the break, while Condron added two second half goals to his side’s tally.

Carniny: McKendry, Hanna, Kelly, Fletcher, Foster, Condron, Clarke, Dael, Herron, Hanna

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Carniny 4, Institute 3: Carniny came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 in a tough match.

The Ballymena boys were two down before Adger pulled one back but Institute restored their two-goal cushion soon after.

Ross Kerr then lifted the ball over the advancing keeper in a one-on-one before Adger levelled the score at 3-3 before half-time.

The decisive goal came in the second half through a brilliant volleyed finish from Ross Kerr.

Carniny: Friel, McAuley, Reid, Dennison, C Kerr, Pogue, Adger, Telford, R Kerr, Surgeoner, Johnston.

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Carniny 3, Portadown Youth 1: Carniny broke the deadlock when Lee Lynn’s shot just couldn’t be held by the Portadown keeper and his follow up forced the ball into the net to make it 1-0 Carniny.

There was no doubt about the second as Lynn, from 30 yard out on the left, let fly and give the keeper no chance as it hit the roof of the net.

In the second half, against the run of play, Portadown got a lifeline when their striker was put through giving McNicholl no chance.

With 5 minutes to go the match was put beyond any doubt when Hunter dispossessed the defender, put it through his legs and crossed for Lee Lynn to get his hat trick to make it 3-1.

Carniny: McNicholl, Young, Hamilton, Farquhar, Lamont, Robinson, Hunter, Lynn, Graffin, Mearns, Moore, White, Anderson, Simpson and Scullion

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Carniny 0, Oak Athletic 1: Carniny felt hard done by after being undone when, with five minutes remaining, a rare Athletic attack resulted in a corner. From the resulting corner an attempted clearance from a Carniny defender bounced off an Athletic striker and crossed the line for the only goal.

Carniny: Parker, Winter, Fleming, Irvine, Close, Kirk, Campbell, Courtney, Archer, O’Boyle, Stewart, Warren, Logan, Clyde, Gordon

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Carniny 1, SOPFC 3: Carniny went behind early on but quickly drew level when Seaan Elliott controlled well to round the keeper and tap into an empty net.

Carniny again went behind early in the half and battle as they did they couldn’t get the equaliser.

Plunket got their third from a corner and even though the Belfast side had a player sent off, Carniny failed to add to their single goal.

Carniny: O’Brien, Lemon, Henderson, Houston, Little, Stewart, Marshall, Downey, McDonnell, Elliott, Leetch, Young, Laverty, Scullion, Crawford.

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Carniny 1, Portadown Youth 3: Carniny fell behind when Portadown were awarded a penalty after the referee adjudged a Ports player had been pushed at a corner.

The penalty was saved by James McClean but the referee, ordered the spot kick to be retaken for encroachment. This time Portadown took the lead.

Carniny drew level in the first minute of the second half when Simon Evans’ clearance went over the top of the Ports defence and Kavan Keenan nipped in to beat the keeper to the ball and then slotted the ball into the empty net.

After that there followed a 15 minute period of Carniny dominance when they were unlucky not to take the lead. Simon Evans struck the bar, then had a point blank header saved by the keeper after which Christian Ferris headed narrowly over, all three efforts coming from Jamie Houston’s inswinging corners.

As the game entered the final quarter it was Portadown who got the vital second goal with 8 minutes to go when a high ball into the box was not dealt with by the Reds defence giving the Ports striker the chance to smash home a volley from 6 yards. Carniny had to chase the game and were caught on the break for the home sides third.

Portadown will probably believe they deserved to win due to their first half performance but Carniny can consider themselves unlucky not to get at least a draw after a much improved second half display

Carniny: McClean, Campbell, Evans, McGall, McComb, Keenan, Ferris, O’Mullan, Houston, Maybin, Hassan, McCloy, Adams, Galbraith

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Carniny 4, Ballymoney Utd YA 1: The match started with Carniny going straight on to the attack from the kick off and they opened the scoring inside the first 5 minutes when Matthew Shevlin scored from close range.

Carniny doubled their lead when a fine through ball from Platt found Matthew Shevlin, who shot through the goalkeepers legs for his second the game. Ballymoney came more into the game but they were unable to trouble Marquess in Carniny’s goals and it was the Carniny lads who looked more likely to score.

After a period of scrappy play from both teams it was Carniny who scored again when Matthew Shevlin got the ball on the left and went past several tackles before firing past the Ballymoney goal keeper to complete his hat trick.

Carniny finished the first half in fine style when another attack was not cleared by the Ballymoney defence and Brandon Moore fired home from inside the penalty box to give Carniny a 4 nil half time lead.

The second half saw Carniny make several substitutions with Jaworski, Balmer, Ferguson and McCann all coming on during the early period of the second half. Ballymoney came more into the game in the second half and put some pressure on Carniny’s back four of Macartney, Rowe, Johnston and Wojtowicz but they were unable to cause too many problems to Owen Marquess in Carniny’s goal.

Ballymoney looked more dangerous as the game went on and pulled a goal back when the Carniny defence failed to clear their lines and the Ballymoney striker fired home from close range.

Carniny: Marquess, Macartney, Rowe, Johnston, Wojtowicz, Platt, Killough, Price, Flynn, Mairs, Shevlin, Moore, Jaworski, McCann, Moore, Ferguson.