Local boys show up well at Foyle Cup

There was Foyle Cup heartbreak for the North Eastern Counties Schoolboys' League (NECSL) u-12's in Derry last weekend as they suffered their only defeat of the competition in a thrilling final at the Brandywell against Scottish Premier League academy side Hearts. There was some consolation for the NECSL as the u-16 representative side lifted the Rose Bowl following their win over Coleraine. It was a hugely successful competition for the North East League as the u-16's scored 22 goals while the u-12's added 12 goals to their tally. The u-12's started with a 4-3 victory over Derry & District with Trim Celtic's Aaron Lynch scoring two great goals with his club mate Dominic Peppard (pictured) also adding to the tally with the other two goals. The following game against Inishowen saw Park Celtic Summerhill's Euan Selkirk find the net twice in a comfortable win and with six points in the bag, they had one foot in the quarter-finals. The last eight spot was assured when they breezed through 5-1 in their last game against Ballyraine with Bailieboro's Seosamh Sheerin (two) and Trim Celtic's Oisin Devlin, Aaron Lynch and Luke Walsh-Byrne all on target. In the quarter-final, the NECSL u-12's faced and defeated Arklow Town with Peppard scoring the only goal of the game to set up a semi-final clash against Limavady. The penultimate hurdle was a tense affair, but after a scoreless contest the NECSL prevailed and booked their place in the final with a thrilling 4-3 penalty shoot-out win. The Foyle Cup final gave the NECSL players the chance to play at the famous home of Derry City, but despite a brave performance they found their Scottish opponents too strong and Mick Davies' troops slumped to a 0-3 defeat. Davies was assisted by Pat Allen, Steven McAuley and Conor Murphy. The u-16's got off to a rocky start where they beaten 0-1 by Donegal, but they rallied sufficiently to crush Northern Ireland side Crewe 6-2 with two goals each from Newtown's Daire Rowe, Kells/Blackweater's Fionn Reilly and Parkvilla's Chris O'Neill. However, despite the confidence gained by that win, the NECSL side were were dumped out of the Foyle Cup by Limavady in controversial circumstances when two harshly awarded penalties contributed to a 1-3 loss with Kells/Blackwater's Paddy Farrelly scoring the goal. As a consolation the u-16's entered the Rose Bowl competition with plenty of confidence and crushed Sion Swifts 8-0 with Parkvilla's Jack Byrne grabbing a hat-trick and his club mates Farrelly, Eoghan Breathnach, Ryan Murphy and Fionn Reilly also on target along with Newtown's Rowe, That strength was evident in the Rose Bowl final as the NECSL hit the goal trail again and pounded Coleraine for six to claim the Bowl with a 6-2 win. Kells/Blackwater pair Paddy Finnegan and Reilly both netted twice while Rowe and Tommy Rogers (Bailieboro) completed the rout for Ken Ratty, Eimear Kane and Conor Murphy's side.