Despite getting their league campaign off to a losing start, Tullylish Under 12’s can take a lot of positives from this spirited performance away to a strong Newry Mitchells outfit. Before taking to the field in this their first game of the year manager Tom McCartan had asked the boys to put in 100% effort for every minute they were on the field and everyone to a man delivered exactly that.
Having no regular goalkeeper this season, the first man to step up and take his turn between the sticks was Niall Carberry and he performed like he’d been there all his life pulling off a string of impressive saves throughout the first half. Full back and captain for the day Chris Roberts battled hard all day and along with his two corner backs Dan Monaghan and James McAteer broke up countless Mitchells attacks.
Mitchells were first to score before Charlie McCartan levelled with a well taken point. The Newry side got what was to be the first of several doses of good fortune when a shot for a point dropped in just under the crossbar for the first goal of the game. The Tullylish team refused to let their heads drop and equalised again when Dara McCloskey rounded off a fine move started by strong running on the ball by the half back line of Terry Doran, Frank McCartan and Liam Farrell by blasting the ball to the roof of the net. Mitchells hit a purple patch after this and rattled off five unanswered points. Again the local boys fought back and Charlie McCartan tucked away a penalty after being dragged down himself at the end of a great move involving his midfield partner Owen Donnelly. This left the half time score Mitchells 1:6, Tullylish 2:1.
Mitchells started strongly and stunned Tullylish with a goal and a point in the opening minutes of the second half. With the game in danger of running away from them this team dug deep and again fought back when the hard work of Under 10 players Dylan Breen and Matthew Porter presented Charlie McCartan with a chance for his second goal which he finished well. Again the luck was in for the Mitchells team when after Shay Magennis had pulled off a great save the rebound fell straight to the corner forward who couldn’t miss. The move of the game saw John McAnearney fielding a high ball and laying off to Owen Donnelly who beat three defenders before sending the keeper the wrong way with a cool finish. This was quickly followed by a long range effort from Charlie McCartan and a great left footed point from Owen Donnelly again to leave only a point between the teams.
It looked at this point as if Tullylish would push on to win the game however injuries to James McAteer, Dara McCloskey and Owen Donnelly robbed the team of three of its biggest, strongest players. Their replacements were Under 10 players James McEvoy, Odhran Connolly and Aidan Magennis who came on and battled away for the remainder of the game. However Newry Mitchells showed that size really matters and were to dominate until the final whistle. Some great defending from the Tullylish backline led by Frank McCartan, who made a couple of great last gasp tackles to keep Mitchells at bay followed. Unfortunately the constant pressure told and despite the best efforts of forwards Oisin Lavery and Ruairi O’Neill dropping in to help their defence and subs Connor Molloy and Michael McConnon, Mitchells struck for two well finished late goals to leave the final score Mitchells 5:7, Tullylish 4:3.
All in all it was an encouraging team performance and the boys can be proud of the fighting spirit they showed right to the end. With more hard work at training on Wednesday nights at 6pm it won’t be long before they get their first win.
Team: Niall Carberry, James McAteer, Chris Roberts, Dan Monaghan, Liam Farrell, Frank McCartan, Terry Doran, Owen Donnelly (1:1), Charlie McCartan (2:2), Ruairi O’Neill, Dara McCloskey (1:0), Matthew Porter, Oisin Lavery, John McAnearney, Dylan Breen. Subs: Shay Magennis, James McEvoy, Michael McConnon, Connor Molloy Odhran Connolly and Aidan Magennis.