Historic win at Foyle Cup

Editorial Department • Published 29 Jul 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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The Ballinamallard U10 side who won the Foyle Cup last week.<<

Ballinamallard Youth Under 10 mini soccer side returned home to Fermanagh after an historic Foyle Cup victory against Derry & District Youth at St Columbs Park last Friday.

The Mallards became the first ever Ballinamallard side to win the Foyle Cup at any age group and coaches Alistair Keys and Sam Gamble were lost for words at the end of the tournament, praising their talented squad for all their hard work.

"The guys have worked their socks off for the duration of the week and all this work has paid off with this victory. The entire group with the help of Neil Upton, Paul Toal and Alan Clarke have helped to develop every single one of the 34 kids we have every Saturday morning," stated Alistair.

"We were quietly confident that we had the squad capable of competing at the tournament. It is a tremendous achievement and this is only the beginning for this squad of players and hopefully this trophy will be the first of many," concluded Sam.

The tournament for the young Mallards began on Tuesday afternoon following the opening parade in the city centre.

In their opening game, the group kicked off against Coleraine based side Bertie Peacock Youth.

Shortly before half time the Mallards suffered a huge blow when a Bertie Peacock striker fired in the opening goal of the tournament. This was the wake up call which was needed, and after a heavy onslaught on the Peacock goal, the young Mallards finally got the breakthrough. Callum Jones crossed with superb accuracy into the box from a corner and Jake Browne rose highest to nod in the equaliser.

Day two provided the Mallard with their toughest test with two fixtures in quick succession against Derry and District Youth and Limavady United.

In one of the games of the tournament, the young Mallards lost narrowly to the Derry & District Youth side courtesy of a last minute winner. Defenders Seanie Mahon and Callum Jones were particular impressive and they nullified any threat which came their way. Ryan Keaney was also in excellent form and his hard work typified an excellent team performance.

However, the Ballinamallard side rallied round and in their second game, they produced a ruthless performance with Niall Owens and Alex Holder scoring two well worked goals.

Day three provided more tough encounters for the Mallards. The first game of the day was against Shankill Youth from Belfast.

A few changes were made to the starting line up and the changes paid off with a comfortable 2-0 victory. Jake Browne and Niall Owens were scorers once again but it was another impressive defensive performance, which helped the Mallards gain another three points.

The final game of the day was against Coleraine FC. Captain Brandon Horan led the line superbly against Coleraine and his two goals were more than enough to see off the opposition.

After three days of competing the Mallards had accumulated ten points and finished second in the group behind Derry & District.

In the final day of the competition the Mallards were drawn against Derry & District Colts and this match was to prove to be one of the toughest encounters the Mallards had played in all week.

The match began at an extremely high tempo and the young Mallards made a tremendous start with Jake Browne, Niall Owens and Alex Holder controlling midfield.

All the Mallards pressure finally paid off when a cross from the right hand side was not cleared and Niall Owens struck a wonderful effort into the top corner of the net.

However, Derry Colts were still causing the Mallards problems in defence and only for a magnificent Nathan Noble save, the Mallards may well have went into the break level.

A gutsy second half performance, with defender Oisin Smyth at the fore, saw the Mallards through to the final of the Foyle Cup and the chance to play Derry Youth once again.

This young Mallards side saved their best performance for last and Niall Owens and Brandon Horan were the goal scorers with two well-taken goals.

The second half proved to be a nervous one for the Mallards and they were extremely grateful to goalkeeper Nathan Noble with a marvellous save from a penalty with minutes to go but they managed to hold out to claim a memorable victory for the club.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 29 Jul 10

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