Funding boost for Northend as they scoop Lloyds Community award

A substantial donation from Lloyds will now be forwarded to Northend United for Club funds, in recognition of the large numbers of votes from the Ballymena Borough public.

Northend United would like to go on record to thank everyone who had voted for their Friday night project via SMS messaging or emailing.

On the playing front this week, Johnny Sayers resurgent U14s picked up another point on their travels, when they drew 2-2 with Hillsborough Boys, after leading this match until near the end.

Elsewhere the Club had no fewer than five teams with the Winter Blues, ending up on the wrong side of a single goal scoreline with Ally McGarry’s U8s losing their Autumn Cup final in the North West and Coleraine District Youth League by the cruellest of margins.

The U17s also lost their match against Cliftonville on Friday night in Belfast where Northend Ireland International, Andrew Mooney, was the difference in the two teams, scoring two goals for the Belfast Reds.

UNDER-8

Northend United 0, Dungiven Celtic 1: The U8s played their final games for 2013 before the winter break and it sesawen both teams playing in the Autumn Cup finals.

Northend United played Dungiven Celtic and lost 1-0 with the posts, keeper and goal line clearances keeping the young Northend side out. MOM - Pearse McAuley, Callum Burnside.

Northend: P Murphy, A McPeake, J Mark, P McAuley, C Burnside, C McKeown, C Hendron.

Northend Youth 0, Bertie Peacocks Youths 1: The game was won in the last minute by Berties when a free kick was rattled into the roof of the Northend net. MOM - Conlan Lyness.

Northend: C Hendron, L Devlin, K McAlister, C Lyness, PP Donegan, S McDermott, D Patterson.

UNDER-9

Portrush 3, Northend 2: The U9s turned in a top performance but ended up on the wrong side of a five goal thriller.

Charlie McGarry and Ben O’Neill were on target for John Devlin’s boys who now look forward to a few weeks break before training starts again in January.

Northend: J Mark, B O’Neill, K Campbell, S Bristow, L Turner I Wylie, J McKeown, C McGarry.

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Northend 2, Oak Athletic 7: This was the U10s final league outing ahead of the winter break and the boys signed off with an impressive display, underlining the progress they have made during the first half of the season.

Oak got their noses in front on five minutes when their centre back rose highest to head home a corner.

It was perhaps slightly against the run of play when Oak capitalised upon a half chance on the edge of the Northend box to double their lead and with minutes of the half remaining Oak snatched their third.

Peter Bristow and Caolan Lennon were quick to pick up the pace in the second half and it was Bristow who powered past the Oak defence to fire a shot into the far right-hand corner.

Oak scored their fourth of the game and breathed a sigh of relief following a prolonged period of Northend pressure.

The Wee Blues were undaunted and Owen Campbell raced onto a through ball and beautifully placed his effort past the helpless Oak keeper.

With the game finely poised it was Oak who finished the stronger and ran out winners in a highly entertaining game. Full-time 2-7. MOM - Niall Devine.

Northend: N Devine, D Magill, K Cosgrove, C McMillan, C Lennon, P Bristow, J Adams, O Campbell, B O’Neill.

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Northend United 2, Northend U11s 2: Northend U12s and U11s played out an exciting 2-2 draw in front of a large crowd at Clough 3G in this rearranged Coleraine U11/U12 league fixture last Monday night.

The U12s went into a two goal lead with Josh Coates and Matthew Stewart finding the net in the first half but they failed to capitalise on this lead and allowed the younger Northend team to take control of the second period in a game that they will feel they should have won. MOM - Josh Coates.

Northend: S Higgins; C Killough; J Kirkpatrick; C Meeke; J Coates; C Metrustry; O Connolly; C McDonald (c); C Forsythe; J Scullion; M Stewart; R Gamble; J Lyness

Northend 2, Magherafelt Sky Blues 3: The Magherafelt team caught the young Northend boys sleeping early on and took a fifth minute lead.

The Northend Blues responded well and after minutes got the reward they deserved when Conor McDonald swung a spectacular corner directly into the Magherafelt net.

Charlie Metrustry then fired the Northend U12s into the lead with a fierce header, giving the Sky Blues goalkeeper no chance.

As the half progressed however Northend began to get complacent, the boys obviously feeling they had done enough to win the game, and Magherafelt scored twice. MOM - Ross Gamble.

Northend: S Higgins; C Killough; C Meeke; J Coates (c); R Gamble; C Metrustry; O Connolly; C McDonald; C Forsythe; J Scullion; M Stewart.

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Northend 1, Hillsborough Boys 2: Hillsborough took the lead through a corner on 22 minutes and then scored on the stroke of half-time when a mix-up in defence allowed Hillsborough to score their second. Half-time score 2 – 0

After a below average first half-performance, Northend were much better in the second half. Ruairi Campbell scored four minutes into the second half, to put Northend back into the match.

Northend took the game to Hillsborough, forcing corner after corner. They were extremely unlucky to have a Robert Iovu goal ruled out from a corner.

MOM - Matthew Willighan

Northend: C McGarry, M Willighan, S Lecky, R McCluney, J Mitchell, J Brady, R Iovu, N Craig, R Campbell (c), T McAuley, T Patchett, P Kyle, C McDonald, C Fullerton.

UNDER-14

Hillsborough Boys 2, Northend United 2: Fresh from their first win of the season last week, the U14s were looking to put more points on the board going into this game.

The Blues started strongly and took the lead on 15 minutes when following a corner, the ball was only partially cleared and James Hayburn fired in an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Hillsborough came storming back at Northend but Josh Mark in the Northend nets pulled off a good save. However he could do nothing, seven minutes later when a Hillsborough player ran from the half way line and slipped the ball into the Northend nets.

Minutes before half time, Northend restored their lead when after some good play from Aaron Campbell, Daniel Bell was on hand to smash the ball into the net from the edge of the penalty area.

Into the second half and with both teams attacking, play flowed from end to end. Hillsborough drew level ten minutes into the half. Northend introduced all their substitutes in the second half, with Sam Hutchinson in particular giving the Hillsborough defence a torrid time.

Northend should have taken the lead again when a couple of chances were missed and the match ended up a draw. Final score 2-2

Northend were disappointed not to take all the points in this game such is the improvement in this team. MOM - Josh Mark.

Northend: J Mark, T Evans, J Hayburn, A Shaw, A O’Boyle, G Macartney, K Babuszewski, J Stevenson, J Wharry, A Campbell, D Bell, K Babuszewski, M Kirk, S Hutchinson, B Millar, H McClurkin.

UNDER-17

Cliftonville 3, Wakehurst 0: Wakehurst got off to the worst possible start in this game, arriving minutes before kick off due to the heavy traffic in Belfast caused by a car crash.

With virtually no warm up time allowed by the referee, the Ballymena Boys found themselves on the back foot in the opening minutes of the match.

Cliftonville opened the scoring 30 minutes into the match when their Northern Ireland striker, Andy Mooney, was allowed to turn inside the Wakehurst penalty box and plant the ball into the bottom corner of the net, giving Aodhan Tolan no chance.

Wakehurst came back at Cliftonville and Stephen Hare should have equalised when the Cliftonville goalie spilled the ball and Hare picked up the loose ball but hesitated, allowing the goalie to recover and smother the ball.

Minutes before the end of the half, Aodhan Tolan pushed a Cliftonville free kick over the cross bar.

Into the second half and Wakehurst began to grow into the game and for the opening ten minutes of the half looked like they might pull a goal back. However disaster was to strike, when Wakehurst conceded a free kick 25 yards out. Andy Mooney stepped up to thump the ball into the Wakehurst net, giving Cliftonville a two goal cushion.

Wakehurst came storming back again at Cliftonville, and from a Thomas Brady throughball, Stephen Hare found himself clear of the Cliftonville defence, and ran on to slip the ball past the keeper, only to see the ball go agonisingly past the post. Wakehurst gave all their large panel a full run out in the second half but Cliftonville scored a late goal to take the shine off the Wakehurst performance, when their striker was given too much time in the penalty box to fire the ball past the helpless Aodhan Tolan.

Wakehurst: A Tolan, J Hanlon, M Laverty, K McCollum, N Swann (c), J Cameron, J Speirs, R Gault, B Etherson, S Hare, K Jackson, A McAvoy, T Brady, R Swan, C Waring, L Scroggie

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

The Club is currently organising a Christmas Raffle to raise funds to help with the running of the Club.