Under 14's Reach Final

Desertmartin 2-8 Lavey 2-7

Our Under 14’s reached the Championship final yesterday in a nail
biting finish which resembled the reserve final at the same venue last
year.  The Lads and Nuala took on Lavey at Magherafelt, and the
spectators were treated to close encounter with some great play form
both team.
     As with most Championship games it’s the team that can
get the goals that win the tie and this game was no different. The Lavey
Goalkeeper had a very good day between the posts and was faultless for
the two Desertmartin Goal. 
    Desertmartins first goal came when the ball fell to Nuala who Placed a ball in the bottom
corner giving the defence no chance in the first half to keep the Martins in contention, and with
the game deep into injury time and the team looking to be out of idea’s,
up popped Martin McGuigan to produce a moment of individual
Genius.  Martin took a free kick form 60 meters out and found his
Wing half forward and on taking the return pass he released an
unstoppable shot to the top corner of the Lavey net.
Full match report attached

Martin McGuigan was the toast of Desertmatin last night when his pile
driver into the top corner of the net deep into injury time snatched
victory from the jaws of defeat for a Desertmartin team who despite
dominating the possession, failed to turn their superiority into
scores.

1n 1998 Rory Murray was part of a Desertmartin under 14 team who met
Lavey in an under 14 quarter final at the Loup. The first game ended in
a draw and the replay was dominated by Dsertmartin however 9 minutes
into injury time with Desertmartin leading by 2 points Lavey hit the
net from a 14 yard free. It was a cruel end for a gallant young side, 8
years later he got his revenge as part of a management team of this
years under 14 team who also came out on top of an absorbing game.

Lavey had first use of a fairly strong breeze blowing from the road end
of Rossa park, and they grabbed the lead after about 3 minutes with a
point. Adrian Trainor however replied for Desertmartin with a free to
level the scores. Desertmartin were staring to dominate the possession
stakes but were having difficulty playing into the strong breeze. Lavey
meanwhile were more economical in front of goal and managed to open a
3-1 lead with 2 further points. Play was swinging from end to end at
this stage and Lavey looked to have taken a commanding lead when the
crashed home the first gaol of the contest after 15 minutes.
Desertmartins reply was swift however as in their next attack a long
ball into the Lavey square was not dealt with and Nuala Brown crashed a
shot to the net.  Desertmartin really dominated the possession
stakes for the remainder of the half but could only add a Declan Murray
pointed free to leave the Half time score Lavey 1-3 Desertmartin 1-2.

Turning to play with a fairy stiff breeze Desertmartin must have been
confident that they had the hard work done but as been said often
enough the wind never won a game for anyone and Lavey were certainly in
no mood to give in easily.
The first ten minutes of the second half were scoreless with both teams
missing numerous chances. Lavey eventually breaking the deadlock with a
pointed free, Desertmartin eventually opening their second half account
after 14 minutes with a Martin McGuigan free. Desertmartin were
dominating possession at this stage but sterling work from the Lavey
defence and poor shooting from the Desertmartin forwards enabled Lavey
to hold onto the lead.  Lavey were being far more economical with
their attacks and added two more points which were replied to with
points from Declan Murray and Adrian Trainor for Desertmartin. With 10
minutes left the score stood at Lavey 1-6 Desertmartin 1-5. In their
next attack Lavey looked to have sealed a victory when their corner
forward cracked home their second goal to open a 4 points lead.
Desertmartin were not finished however and points from Declan Murray
and Martin Breen reduced the gap to two points. Desertmartin also
scorned a couple of goal chances during this period. With the game
approaching the final minutes a Lavey pointed free increased their lead
to 3 points, Adrian Trainor replied with a pointed free for
Desertmartin to reduce the gap again. Play swung from end to end during
the final exchanges, Brendan Higgins then broke up a Lavey attack and
played the ball to Martin McGuigan, he set off on another run straight
at the Lavey defence he reached the 21 yard and fired an unstoppable
shot to the corner of the Lavey Net.  This gave Desertmartin the
lead for the first time in the game, the action wasn’t finished however
as Lavey set out in pursuit of an equaliser and the referee gave them
every opportunity. He ignored a foul on the Desertmartin Goalkeeper
Darren McGuigan after he made a clearance and then awarded 2 frees to
Lavey the second just to the left of the Desertmartin posts on the 21
yard line.  Up stepped Lavey’s number 11 for what was expected to
be an equalizing point his shot however tailed to the right of the
posts much to the relief of the Desertmartin players and management. It
was a cruel way for any team to loose and after an absorbing game a
draw may have been a fair result.
Desertmartin however will feel they were the better team on the night
and but for some shooting the game would not have been as close.

There were some fine performances for Desertmartin  
Darren McGuigan could not be faulted for either of the goals and he
made a great clearance late on, The full back line of Thomas, Connor
and Dermot all played well Brendan and Martin had fine games at half
back. Martin McGuigan was outstanding at midfield and he had good
support from Kyle Bradley who despite only playing gaelic football for
a number of months had a fine game.
In the half forwards Mark Kidd tried hard throughout, Declan despite
carrying a hip injury performed well and Nuala who despite her size
gave as good as she got and scored a crucial goal. In the corners Owen
and Dermot tried hard and Adrian at full forward caused Lavey problems
through out.
My man of the match however was Eamon Burns at wing half back time and
again he came out first for the ball and despite giving away a good few
inches to his opponent, he never flinched from a tackle.
Team and scorers

1    Darren McGuigan
2    Dermot McGuigan
3    Connor Murray
4    Thomas toner
5    Brendan Higgins
6    Martin Breen
7    Eamon Burns
8    Martin McGuigan
9    Kyle Bradley
10    Mark Kidd
11    Declan Murray
12    Nuala Brown
13    Owen McGuigan
14    Adrian Trainor
15    Dermot Breen
16    Peadar Donnelly
17    Emmett McGuigan
18    Paddy Devlin

Scorers Martin McGuigan 1-1, Adrian Trainor 0-3, Declan Murray 0-3,
Nuala Brown  1-0, Martin Breen 0-1