The u10s travelled to Tullylish on Saturday 20 September 2014 to take part in the annual cup and shield tournament. Despite having won the Paddy Flanagan Cup in their own tournament only 6 days earlier the boys approached this tournament with some caution as the Down teams play in older age groups, with all primary sevens available to them. But their caution was soon replaced with elation as they progressed easily out of their group stage into the Cup quarter finals with impressive wins.
Tullylish 0.1 v 6.3 Naomh Brid
Rostrevor 1.3 v 2.5 Naomh Brid
Naomh Brid 4.7 v 2.2 Clonduff
The u10s once again could rely on their solid defence, skilful midfielders and determined forwards to produce great individual and team displays of football.
Samir O’Hare was not to be beaten in depriving the opposing forwards of winning the ball, always under the watchful eye of Matthew McCann, goalkeeper. Matthew worked tirelessly keeping his backs in position and providing long range accurate kickouts to the midfielders and forwards. James Gorman could be relied on to carry the ball quickly out of defence and provide scoring chances for the forwards.
The midfield pairing of Aodhan McNicholl and Brian McGurk was once again a formidable force in the middle of the field, with opposing midfielders finding it very difficult to match their speed.
Throughout the tournament the team also relied on the skills of Donal Hanna in winning some difficult balls and retaining possession to score from difficult angles. Fintan Cleary also took some great free kicks and scored from distance.
It was good to have Niall Murtagh available for this tournament, the only player who has a 2003 birth date who travelled to Tullylish. He enjoyed playing with his classmates and the boys all look forward to playing together again next year. The forward line was very well assisted with the skill of Jack Toner, who fielded and passed back to those in scoring positions when the opposing defence was physically bigger.
The success of the morning left the boys drawn against St Michael’s Magheralin for the quarter final after lunch. Again, the boys did not go into the match with their usual high expectations as they lined out against a physically taller and stronger looking team. However, within a minute of the throw in the Naomh Brid boys were clearly winning more ball and showing the supporters that their quick and accurate passing game made up for any deficit in height! The boys progressed with relative ease into the semi final against Clonduff.
As is usual at these tournaments there was the rumour around the pitch during the day that the final would most certainly feature two of either Clonduff, Kilcoo or Burren. So the semi final pairing of Naomh Brid v Clonduff was seen by the Clonduff supporters and some of the other local Down club team supporters as being an easy draw for Clonduff. They were to be left scratching their heads when the Naomh Brid boys out played them in every sector of the field and won with ease. At the end of the match when congratulations were being proffered to the Naomh Brid team there were many comments about how football has changed in Antrim and no longer will the mighty Down men take an Antrim team for granted.
This just left the contest against Burren in the final. Burren had beaten Kilcoo in their semi final and with that victory they felt they were certain to win the Cup. The Naomh Brid boys, however, were not going to let them win easily. At the end of full time the teams were level. The rules of the tournament meant extra time of 2.5 minutes each way would decide the winner, and unfortunately it was within the last 90 seconds of the match that Burren got some scoring chances to go on to win. The Naomh Brid boys were disappointed but should be hugely proud of their achievements against the older teams. The coaches were delighted when Niall Duffy was awarded ‘player of the final’, a very deserving winner, who had played superbly throughout the day as well as in the final.
