McKervey stalwart as U15 B beat Barn

Barn Utd 2 – 3 Carryduff B U15s. 

Carrick 3G, Friday 24^th Nov. 2017

Carryduff Kit sponsored by Camtec Solutions

A minute’s silence was well observed before kickoff for a member of the Barn coaching staff who had passed away suddenly that day.

A very difficult match was expected after we had been on the wrong end of a 4-2 result in our opening Supplementary Cup fixture against Barn back in September, and Barn Utd were looking for the win to take them top of the league.

Our boys were very well up for this fixture and a very strong full squad of 16 was available. The opening few minutes saw chances at either end but it was Carryduff who opened the scoring, with Finn driving through midfield and playing Jamie in to finish well. Unfortunately the lead only lasted a minute and the Barn No 9 used his tremendous pace to beat our defence and his finish was unstoppable.

Carryduff continued to play some really good attacking football and we really did dominate the midfield against a very good technical side. We were denied a blatant penalty shortly after, when Seb was through in the box and was scythed down. (The ref later explained that he hadn’t seen it clearly enough and thought it was just a coming-together of players).

In the 20^th minute, we deservedly retook the lead. Declan had a surging run down the right flank and played a through-ball behind the Barn defence. It looked to be running out of play on a fast 3g surface, but Max was determined and just caught the ball in time. He managed to wrap his foot around the ball for a first time cross to the near post where Jamie had sprinted. He was the filling in a Barn Utd sandwich but somehow managed to poke the ball over the line. 2-1 up and battling well. We were denied another penalty with about 5 minutes to go in the first half for a handball and that was how the half ended.

The second half was a dogged display of defending and trying to catch Barn on the break.

Tony’s long throws were like corner kicks and it looked like we would further extend our lead when one of these missiles was met at the near post by Finn, but his header went about 2 inches the wrong side of the woodwork. Our back 3 of Ryan, Michael and Niall were absolutely outstanding and anything managing to get past was being collected well by Jack in nets.

We held out until the 67^th minute when Barn managed to scramble an equaliser. Talk about a feeling of sheer disappointment! Still, the heads didn’t go down and Ben played the most exquisite lofted pass to Seb who broke through the Barn defence, but somehow their keeper managed to pluck the ball from his feet before he could pull the trigger!

With only 34 seconds remaining, Seb managed to put things right with a finish in off the far post to break Barn hearts and send us back up to 2^nd in the table, leapfrogging Barn in the process.

Man of the Match was Michael McKervey for his sterling job at marshalling our experimental back three.

Squad.

Jack Collins, Niall McGeough, Ethan Campbell, Michael McKervey, Finn Mills, Mark Hewitt, Luke Robinson, Jamie Glover, Conor Doran, Max McKervey, Ronan Cahalane, Tony Craig, Ryan Doyle, Declan Doran, Sebastian Gabriele, Ben Johnston.