The under 15’s came out in the wrong end of an eleven goal thriller at at the hands of Castlewellan on Saturday morning, click on the link to find out more…
Saturday 12th November – Downpatrick Youth Football League under 15’s
Castlewellan Town 6 v Downpatrick FC 5
Another return match to Castlewellan on a bright Saturday morning, called for the boys to be disciplined and focused. From the start, it was evident that Castlewellan were determined to make their mark and on 4 minutes knocked in their first goal of the game.
Matthew Killen was going to be busy in goal and the defensive block of Naoise O’Hagan, Liam Toner, Conail Gardner and Gregory Kelly were going to have to work hard to stop Castlewellan’s onslaught which was causing all sorts of problems for Downpatrick. More goals came for the town and despite the best efforts of the boys, they knocked in a further 3 goals before half time with no realistic or controlled attacks by Downpatrick.
Half Time: Castlewellan Town 4 v Downpatrick FC 0
A lot of teams would have capitulated with such a score line at this stage but with an inspirational half time talk, the boys restarted with their heads up, adamant that Downpatrick were to be no push over! Attacking from the whistle, the boys controlled the ball in the Castlewellan half and attack after attack was inevitably rewarded on 45 minutes when Luke Shields scored Downpatrick’s first. The match was now a game of back and forward with Downpatrick attacking and Castlewellan counter attacking building the excitement.
On 51 minutes, the most spurious of decisions led to a Castlewellan penalty despite the protestations of players and management alike, 5-1 to Castlewellan but this lit a spark in the Downpatrick attack and on 53 minutes Downpatrick hit back with another through Luke Shields scoring his 2nd. Castlewellan hit back with another almost immediately making it 6-2 and the tension was building.
Ruairi Murphy came on as a substitute and made some excellent passes, with foresight beyond his years and Luke Shields accepted one deft pass to make it 6-3. Shortly after, Andrew McClean returning after injury made a strike on 57mins making it 6-4. Murphy’s introduction was an injection of impetus and again he passed to Luke Shields who scored for his hat trick to make the final score 6-5. A great performance in the second half and despite the comeback, evidence where it is needed that it is literally ‘a game of two halves’ – lessons need to be learnt and the boys need to take this and build on it if they want to lead from the front!