The evening began with the children being giving the freedom to enjoy the attractions and activities on display including Bouncy Castles, Target Shooting, the Fire Brigade, Ambulance and Police 4×4. After a brief roam the kids were provided with an amazing magic show from Joe Magic from Magicbounce (for info. call 02892617379). Following the magnificent show all the kid were presented with trophies for their participation and effort during the season.

The Academy Director said “it’s amazing to see so many kids playing and enjoying the world’s greatest game, not only here at the fun night but all year round. It’s amazing to think we have over 200 young player’s currently here at the club and with the demand, the club is continually growing and looking at new ways to encourage and improve the lives of as many young people as possible.”

Overall another successful and enjoyable night at Loughgall Youth as the club continues to go from strength to strength.

It was an opportunity for some players who have been in and around the Loughgall Lisburn league side this season to show what they could do as three of the squads regular starters were absent. Loughgall started brightly, getting the ball down and passing it well, with Adam Alexander and Jonathan Ewart prominent. Jack Hamilton and Jordan Finlay were seeing plenty of the ball too as Loughgall looked to carve out the first chance of the game.

Glendowan eased their way into the game and soon showed why they have only lost one league game all season when they got in behind the Loughgall defence and their striker finished low beyond Daniel Acheson.

Loughgall continued to play the more attractive football and were very unlucky not to be level when Jordan Finlays looping effort just passed the post after good play from Daniel Neill and William Graham.

Glendowan were physically strong and went into every tackle committed. Loughgall almost equalized again when a corner was partially cleared to Daniel Neill and his thumping left footed shot was blocked on the goal line with the Glendowan keeper beaten.

Scott McCann, Jack Hamilton, Sam Gibbons and James Orr all had to be alert as Glendowan looked to counter quickly on the break. Another flowing Loughgall move involving Adam Alexander and Dale Mulligan saw the latter’s shot smothered at the front post.

A few positional changes were made at half time by Loughgall and Zane Brown was introduced to add some pace to the attack. Daniel Neill started to see plenty of the ball and really threaten down the left with some excellent runs and link up play with Adam Alexander, Dale Mulligan and Jonathan Ewart.

Another late challenge saw Loughgall awarded a free kick, Daniel Neill’s well struck effort was parried by the keeper, but Dale Mulligan was quickest to react, his first attempt blocked but he then made no mistake with the follow up to finish low and bring the sides level.

The Loughgall defence, which was well marshalled by Scott McCann were comfortable, and Daniel Acheson rarely troubled as Loughgall went in search of the winner. Nice inter play between Jack Hamilton and Dale Mulligan saw Jordan Finlay burst from midfield and fire narrowly wide across goal.

Strong challenges from Glendowan continued as Dale Mulligan and Zane Brown were on the receiving end of some late tackles, but nothing compared to the reckless high challenge which brought an end to Jonathan Ewart’s participation in the game.

Five minutes later, Jordan Finlay made no mistake when a quickly taken free kick resulted in him bursting into the Glendowan box and drilling low into the net to give his side a well deserved lead.

Adam Alexander helped tighten things up in central midfield and the Loughgall backline were rarely troubled as the final whistle sounded on a really hard fought win for Loughgall in the type of physical game which they would have lost four months ago. This is a mark of the excellent progress which the squad has made over the course of this season.

Squad: Daniel Acheson, Jordan Finlay, James Orr, Scott McCann, Sam Gibbons, Jack Hamilton, Daniel Neill, William Graham (Capt), Adam Alexander, Dale Mulligan, Jonathan Ewart & Zane Brown

Scorers: Dale Mulligan & Jordan Finlay.

Man of the Match: Daniel Neill

Albert Mulligan took over the reins of the Under 11’s at the start of the season and what has been a very challenging season both on and of the pitch has seen all his hard work, and the hard work of his assistant coaches, Colin Alexander, Colin Brown and Thomas Graham be rewarded with some excellent displays from the boys and improved performances as the season has gone on.

From day one the focus in training has always been around technique, touch, control, passing and moving and of course an element of fitness. The boys have been encouraged to get the ball down and play football through the team, enjoy it and focus on performance’s and not results. As the season has gone on the performances have gone from strength to strength.

The future certainly looks bright for this group of players and next season just cannot come quickly enough.

Lisburn League Squad: Jordan Finlay

Mid Ulster League Squad: Joel Paynter

Congratulations boys and keep up the good work!

The Loughgall Youth Mid Ulster league Under 11’s have made steady progress this season under the direct guidance of Colin Brown and the club’s Under 11’s head coach Albert Mulligan. Their improved performances over the course of the season have been rewarded with this trophy and they will now look to build on this achievement.

Well done boys!!

Team Photograph:
Back Row left to right: Tim Wharton, Ryan Stewart, Ryan Parr, James Orr, Joel Paynter, Kyle West, Connor Brown, Ryan Faulkner, Matthew Cupples.
Front Row left to right: Zane Brown, Jamie Barbour, Rhys McMaster, Luke Murray, Jake Shields, Sam Gibbons, Jack Hamilton.

With his mid-field colleagues of Tim Wharton, Ryan Faulkner and Luke Murray also working their socks off, Faulkner in particular impressing with some quality passes. However against the run of play Tandragee were to open the scoring on 6mins with an excellent header from a corner.

This seemed to fire Loughgall with Kyle West and Zane Brown working hard up-front resulting in Kyle West equalizing in the 16th minute from the edge of the 18yard box blasting the ball into the top left corner of Tandragees net.

Loughgalls back four of Jamie Barbour, James Orr, Sam Gibbons and Joel Paynter, were challenged on several occasions and with keeper Connor Brown, they managed to hold of all threats. Tim Wharton caused big problems for Tandragees right-back and notched up his first on 23mins with a low drive into Tandragees bottom left corner to give Loughgall the advantage at half time.

Second half and Tim Wharton was first to strike when on 40mins he scored his second with a carbon copy of his first. Minutes later Zane Brown brought the tally to 4-1 in Loughgalls favour, with a well placed shot to the bottom right corner of Tandragees net.

Tandragee came back hard again, and on 50mins scored their second, despite Loughgalls keeper getting his finger tips to the powerful shot. Loughgalls Ryan Parr, Jake Shields and Ryan Stewart also played their part well, but could not prevent Tandragees comeback with another goal on 54 mins, a measure of the character of Tandragees young players. However, Loughgall saw out the remaining minutes to finish the season with a hard fought win.

After the match Loughgall Youth Under 11, Mid-Ulster League Team, now sitting 4th overall in the League, were presented with a beautiful trophy and individual medals for winning their section of the Mid Ulster Under 11 League, a feat to be proud of.

Squad: Connor Brown, Jack Hamilton, James Orr, Ryan Parr, Ryan Faulkner, Luke Murray, Zane Brown, Kyle West, Jamie Barbour, Joel Paynter, Tim Wharton, Sam Gibbons, Jake Shields and Ryan Stewart.

Loughgall Youth Scorers: Tim Wharton 2, Kyle West & Zane Brown.

Loughgall Man of the Match: Jack Hamilton

The Youth took the lead through a Chris Lindsay shot after about 5 minutes. Sam Kerr doubled the lead and then on the stroke of half time Josh Irwin made it three.

In the second half Hillsborough pulled two goals back but Sam Cochrane made it 4-2 with a fine shot and then Sam Kerr made it 5-2 before Josh Irwin scored direct from a corner right on the stroke of full time.

The Youth had John Forde in goals and apart from pick the ball out of the net twice was a virtual spectator throughout. In defence they started with Jordan Bentley, Nathan Stoops and Peter Spence The guys all played very well and looked solid throughout. Andrew Bond came on as a sub and he performed well as well.

In midfield they had Matthew Monaghan on the right. He was outstanding from the start creating chances and having a few shots himself. In the centre of midfield was Josh Irwin and Sam Cochrane. They both covered every blade of grass on the pitch and both were on the scoresheet as was Chris Lindsay who started on the left. Marcus Stevenson came on and played in the centre of midfield during the second half and he looks to be one for the future with his running at defenders and his tenacity in the tackle.

Up front Sam Kerr played and chipped in with two goals.

Overall a satisfactory start to the 9 a side matches and special mention to Matthew Monaghan for his brilliant performance on the right hand side of midfield. His all round display was excellent with his wing play, tracking back and he was unfortunate not to score on a few occasions with excellent strikes.

Squad: John Forde, Jordan Bentley, Nathan Stoops, Peter Spence, Josh Irwin, Sam Cochrane, Matthew Monaghan, Chris Lindsay, Sam Kerr, Andrew Bond, Marcus Stevenson.

Loughgall started brightest as they controlled the opening exchanges with some neat passages of play. William Graham and Daniel Neill were prominent in midfield with James McCormack and Jonathan Ewart seeing plenty of the ball as Loughgall threatened.

Glenavon were direct and content to play the long ball up to their speedy left winger. Jordan Finlay had to be alert along with Josh Woods and Scott McCann as the winger attempted to get in behind the Loughgall defence.

Loughgall played some neat football out from defence with Adam Alexander linking well with James McCormack. It was a slick Loughgall move involving Adam Alexander, James McCormack and Kyle Gilmore which ended with Jonathan Ewart bundling his side in front from close range.

Glenavon threatened on the break and forced an excellent finger tip save from Daniel Acheson before Adam Alexander then had to hook the ball acrobatically of the line as Glenavon enjoyed their best spell of the game.

Loughgall then went up the other end and won a free kick, Kyle Gilmore’s cross found Dale Mulligan at the back post and his thumping shot came back of the bar to James McCormack who immediately volleyed the ball goal ward again only to see it come back of the bar to him again before he blazed the ball over the bar.

The Glenavon goal lead a charmed life as another sweeping Loughgall move saw Jonathan Ewart fail to connect correctly before William Graham fired over when well placed.

Loughgall continued to threaten at the start of the second half as William Graham did well to beat his man, but his shot flew narrowly wide. Loughgall continued to create plenty of chances but seemed to have left their shooting boots at home as they failed to add to the score line with some poor finishing.

A rare Glenavon break saw them win a corner from which they equalized when a deflected shot flew high into the Loughgall net via the unfortunate William Graham. Glenavon tails were now up as another long ball caused hesitation in the Loughgall defence and the speedy Glenavon striker nipped in and got his shot away, which Daniel Acheson did brilliantly to save, but he was helpless as the striker converted the rebound to give Glenavon the lead much against the run of play.

Loughgall continued to play the more attractive football as again William Graham and Jonathan Ewart both went close before the hard working Kyle Gilmore saw his goal bound effort charged down.

With time ticking away a Jordan Finlay cross shot was then blatantly handled by a Glenavon defender, the ball was fired home but the whistle had already sounded for the penalty. Up stepped Dale Mulligan to confidently drill the penalty home and bring the sides level.

With time running out it was all Loughgall as they went in search of the winner and Glenavon had to do whatever they could to keep Loughgall at bay as their defender dragged Kyle Gilmore back with both hands as he sprinted goalward.

The resulting free kick was swung into the Glenavon box and subsequently cleared as the final whistle sounded on a draw.

Squad: Daniel Acheson, Jordan Finlay, Josh Woods, Scott McCann, James McCormack, Kyle Gilmore, Daniel Neill, William Graham (Capt), Adam Alexander, Dale Mulligan, Jonathan Ewart & Jack Hamilton.

Loughgall Youths Scorers: Jonathan Ewart & Dale Mulligan (pen)

Loughgall Youth Man of the Match: William Graham

Group
Loughgall Youth – 2 Rathfiland – 0 Goal Scorers – Jamie Hall & Marcus Stevenson

Loughgall Youth – 6 Craigavon City – 0 Goal Scorers – Jamie Hall x 2 Darren Robinson x 2 Marcus Stevenson & Jack Winter

Loughgall Youth – 1 Sunnyside B – 0 Goal Scorer – Marcus Stevenson

Quarter Final
Loughall Youth – 1 Sunnyside A – 0 Goal Scorer – Jamie Hall

Semi Final
Loughgall Youth – 1 Portadown – 1 Goal Scorer – Marcus Stevenson – Loughgall win on pens

Final
Loughgall Youth – 0 Lourdes (Dublin) 1 AET

This was a pretty good shift from these guys who only conceded 2 goals in 6 games, narrowly defeated by a very strong Lourdes team from Dublin, who had been scoring goals for fun all day.

Alan Robinson would like to pay tribute to organizers of this very successful tournament, especially Alan Cupples, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get this of the ground.

Alan Robinson later said, “I would also pay tribute to the late George Willis of whom I held in high esteem. George who was a bank manager and was the instigation of the initial progress made at Loughgall Football Club, securing the initial funding required to level the pitch, boundary fencing, and then the club rooms. George was a very charismatic person, influential, excellent motivator. He managed the team when I arrived as a 17year old, he was a person I looked up to as a teenager, he was a very good man manager. Loved a game of pool or darts, and when he won, he had an old cliché, You cant beat class!. Still very sadly missed ! His nephew Noel is following in his footsteps, and is proving to be a very successful manager at Loughgall Youth, having managed a team now for four years, of which his sons Mathew and Joel play.”

In the first match they played Portadown Boys and drew 0-0. The Youth dominated the match going close on numerous occasions with the closest being a Josh Irwin shot which struck the post. Indeed their failure to convert chances nearly cost them dear with Sam Kerr pulling off a great save at the end of the match.

In their second match the Youth beat Celtic Boys from Belfast 3-1. James Black opened the scoring with a fine shot and he then turned provider for the second crossing for Chris Lindsay to open his account. Chris added a second to put the Youth three up before Celtic pulled one back at the end.

The third match saw the Youth lose 2-0 to Ballinmallard. Two defensive errors by the Youth were punished by the visitors. A misplaced pass was intercepted and the Ballinmallard forward made no mistake with the finish. The Youth had chances to equalise through Jordan Bentley and Sam Cochrane but they could not find the net. Nathan Stoops then went close with a freekick and then in the final minute a free kick from distance gave the visitors a 2-0 victory.

The fourth match saw a 2 -0 victory against Moira with Chris Lindsay and Jordan Bentley scoring the goals.

The Youth went into the final game knowing a victory over St Marys would take them through to the quarter finals but they could not find a way through the St Marys defence and then conceded a goal to go down 1-0.

It was disappointing not to progress to the next stage of the competition. Too many of the boys did not perform to their true potential today but despite this today overall a very encouraging season. Well done boys.

Squad: Sam Kerr, Nathan Stoops, Ryan Scott, Josh Irwin, James Black, Alexander Black, Jordan Bentley, Chris Lindsay, Sam Cochrane

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