Carniny Youth FC under fourteens finished the Foyle Cup last week as the highest placed local team in the popular youth tournament competition. The boys in red were amongst the 24 teams at under fourteen level with teams such as Glasgow Celtic, Motherwell, Hearts and Ferencvaros in the line up. The competition also included many Irish League and Eircom League youth sides and also combined local youth league teams.

From the group stages teams qualified for the main Foyle Cup and then down through the rankings to Foyle Plate, Foyle Rosebowl, Foyle Shield finishing with the last group the Foyle Vase. Carniny qualified from their group into the Foyle Rosebowl and won the third place play off match. Other local teams included Ballymena United, Ballymoney United, Bertie Peacock YL and Coleraine FC.

The competition was a tough test for the boys with five matches, one a day from Tuesday through to tournament’s conclusion on Saturday.

Match 1
Carniny Youth 1 Bertie Peacock Youth League 0
The Carniny boys got off to a winning start in their age group when they beat a Bertie Peacock Youth League side in awful conditions at Greysteel. Carniny started the brighter and Mark McKelvey tested the Peacocks keeper with a super shot early on who in turn pulled off a super save. McKelvey looked to have scored once again when he cut back an acute shot from the left hand side only to see it skim past the far post. As the game moved into the second hald Carniny began to exert more pressure and it paid off when Zach Barr capitlaised on an defensive error to coolly slot home to put the boys one up. This was the way it finished with Carniny racking up their first points.

Match 2
Carniny Youth 0 v Ferencvaros 4
The boys had been eagerly awaiting this match, relishing the chance to play against the top Hungarian side. The match started evenly but The Hungarians broke the deadlock to take then into half time one up. Early in the second half it looked like Carniny had got their equaliser when Zach Barr netted but it was ruled out for off side. Ferencvaros netted again half with ten minutes to go as they displayed some neat football and netted twice gain in extra time to give them a flattering scoreline at the final whistle.

Match 3
Carniny Youth 0 Inishowen Youth League 2
In the final group match Carniny once again tackled a big strong League side and held their own with only one goal in it at half time. In the second half the Inishowen lads had Carniny under pressure and got their second goal in the last minute with Carniny only having ten men on the pitch at the time. The Inishowen lads went on to hold eventual finalists Linfield to a draw in the latter stages.

Rosebowl Semi Final
Carniny Youth 0 Shelbourne 2
With the group stages over Carniny were moved into the Rosebowl competition and took on League of Ireland side, Shelbourne. Carniny started the brighter and held the Dubliners to nil all at half time. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be with the Shels netting twice in the second half to win by two goals.

Match 5
Carniny Youth 2 Maiden City 0
As the competition moved into the last day Carniny took on fellow National League opponents, Maiden City. The boys were determined to get a good result to end their week and they got of to a great start when Jake Armstrong delivered the ball from the right wing to see Mark McKelvey fire a well taken shot into the Derry boys net. The boys kept their lead until half time and within a minute of the restart had their opponents under pressure as they pegged them back and forced a defensive mix up allowing Dean Graham in to coolly slot home to make it two nil which was the final score.

Panel;
J Dunlop, D McAllister, C Greene, C Todd, L White, N Black, J Armstrong (c ), D McKnight, J Carson, M McKelvey, D Graham, A Boyce, M McLaughlin, L Apsley, J Stewart, Z Barr , A Henry.

The coaching staff of Tom Todd, Stephen Armstrong and Jack Carson would like to thank all those parents and supporters who helped with the transport and travelled to support the boys each day.