Northend under-16s in scintillating form against Greenisland

Northend United under-16s turned in the club’s performance of the week, dominating their match against Greenisland Boys on Saturday.
Northend U-12 player Calum Kilgore takes control of the ball before his St. Pats opponent can tackle him. INBT07-250ACNorthend U-12 player Calum Kilgore takes control of the ball before his St. Pats opponent can tackle him. INBT07-250AC
Northend U-12 player Calum Kilgore takes control of the ball before his St. Pats opponent can tackle him. INBT07-250AC

Elsewhere in the Lisburn League the U13s, U14s and U15s all lost their Cup matches against Hillsborough, Downpatrick and Carrick Rangers respectively.

It was NIBFA Cup weekend and the U12s were unlucky to lose by a 1-0 scoreline against Belfast Club, St. Patricks, with the young Blues turning in a good team performance.

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The younger teams had a mixed bag of fortune in the North West and Coleraine District league with the U11s Youth team turning in an emphatic win over Ballymoney Athletic while the U10s and U11s United teams didn’t fare so well.

The U8s started off the weekend on Friday night at the Irish FA Tournament at the Showgrounds with three teams representing the Club and a fourth planned for next weeks tournament.

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Northend United 1, Coleraine Alexandra 8: Northend came up against one of the top teams in the league and with a couple of regulars missing it was a difficult morning for the Ballymena boys.

Despote coming into the game on the back of three wins in a row, Northend found their opponents too strong and all they had to show for their efforts was a Tyler Boyd goal.

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Northend: PJ McDonnell, C Lutton, S Bristow, B O’Neill, T Boyd, J McKeown, S O’Broin, E Mitchell.

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Northend United 3, Bertie’s Little Ants 6: Northend paid the price for a sluggish start as they conceded twice inside the opening 10 minutes and although Jack McIlhatton replied with a fine strike, Bertie’s scored again to lead 3-1 at the interval.

In the second half, Callum McMurray finished off a good move to keep Northend in the game before their opponents eventually pulled clear.

Northend: C Wilson, D Magill, K Cosgrove, C McMillan, P Bristow, J Adams, O Campbell, L Hector, C McMurray and J McIlhatton.

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Northend United 0, St Patrick’s 1: Northend U12s welcomed St Patricks from Belfast in the NIBFA plate to Ballymena on Saturday. The game was played at Smithfield with the pitch being larger than what the boys normally played on.

St Patricks got off to a flyer when they took the lead from one of their players who showed blistering pace to get away from Calum Kilgore and coolly slot the ball past Callum Higgins who was standing in for regular keeper Euan McSparron.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, Northend battled hard for an equaliser but the closest they came was in the second half when substitute Jamie Morrow found himself just inside the box and as the ball broke to him he shot using the outside of his right foot but the ball struck the post and St Pats cleared.

Northend: C Higgins, H Wylie (c), J Morrow, C McGaughey, J Montgomery, P Ferris, C Kilgore, R McKillop, R McQuillan, P Esler.

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Hillsborough Boys 5, Northend United 0: This score does not reflect the game as Northend had a lot of the possession and had chances in the game to score but the quality in Hillsborough finishing was the difference.

The whole Northend team put in a great performance and are improving each week in a very competitive league. Final score 5-0

Northend: J Givens. C Forsythe, J Coates, J Kirkpatrick (c), R Boomer, C Metrustry, O Connelly, R Dunlop, M Stewart, C Meeke, A Mooney, C McDonald. M Rainey.

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Downpatrick 6, Northend United 0: From start to finish, Northend looked like a side that had not played for a month, and were punished heavily by a very good Downpatrick side.

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Northend: C Brennan, S Frew, T McAuley, J Brady, R Lorimer, N Craig, R Campbell, R McCluney, R Iovu, C McGarry, T Patchett, S Lecky, M Willighan, C Gordon, R Jones, C Fullerton

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Carrick Rangers 6, Northend United 0: Northend came up against a well drilled Carrick Rangers side in the Cup and were well in the game until half time, but they could do nothing to prevent Carrick running in four goals in a blistering second half performance.

Northend: J Mark, J Adams, D Dobbin (c), A Shaw, G Macartney, B McGarvey, J Stevenson, R Laverty, S Hutchinson, A Campbell, J Penny, M Kirk

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Northend United 3, Greenisland 0: This was a confident performance from an U16 team whose early season form is beginning to return throughout all areas of the team.

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Northend hit the ground running right from the kick off and it was no surprise when Zack Herbison opened the scoring after seven minutes when he converted a Jamie Houston cross.

Northend added a second goal on 20 minutes when Bradley Cairns controlled a Tom Campbell pass and released Zack Herbison to outpace his marker and chip the advancing goalkeeper.

Northend scored their third goal midway through the second half when Jamie Houston pushed the ball wide to Zack Herbison and went for the return pass, to slip the ball into the bottom corner of the Greenisland net.

Northend: L McFall, O Boyle, L McAllister, R Dennison, R McKenna (c), T Campbell, S Bennett, J Dawson, B Cairns, J Houston, Z Herbison, J Galbraith, A Milligan

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

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The Football Development Centre continues on Friday 13th February at the Sentry Hill Sports Hall. The Football Development Centre is open to all boys and girls aged 4 to 8 inclusive who are unconnected with any other Club and takes from 6.00pm to 7.30pm.

For more information, or to reserve your child a place on the course, please call John Devlin on 07919056834. Application forms can also be printed off the Northend website www.northendunitedyouthfc.co.uk

SPEEDY RECOVERY

All at the Club send best wishes for a speedy recovery to U14s player, Robert McCluney, who unfortunately broke his arm while playing for Coaching for Christ on Saturday afternoon.

FAMILY QUIZ NIGHT

Northend United Youth are holding one of their now legendary Family Quiz Nights to raise funds for the Club on Thursday 12th February, commencing at 7.30pm sharp at Connolly’s Bar, Dunvale. Quiz Master for the evening is club chairman Johnny Sayers.

SPORTNI WORKSHOP

As part of their yearly Club Excellence Mark recertification, a number of the Northend United coaches were involved in a SportNI workshop this week at the Showgrounds, delivered by Ashley Hunter.