The under 16?s played their fourth game on Wednesday night at home to Swatragh.
After a facile win in their previous game with Swatragh the management used the opportunity to experiment with team selection. Danny Hegarty, Paul McFlynn and Paddy Trainor all were making their first starts of the season. During the week the news had reached us that one of the Swatragh players had been diagnosed with a serious illness so it cannot have been easy for Swatragh to field but in the circumstances they put up a very spirited performance. The management and players of the Under 16 team would like to wish the player all the best for the future and hopefully he can recover and make return to the playing field.
Gregory McGovern gained possession from the throw in but his attempt to set up the first attack was fielded brilliantly by Mario Bradley in the stand. Swatragh attacked from the line ball and opened the scoring with a point. Desertmartin’s response was swift however with John Hughes racing through the middle and planting the ball in the net this was followed by another goal from Enda McGuckin. Swatragh replied with a point from a free, which was cancelled out, by a point from Enda O?Hagan before he had to retire because of sickness. At this stage our Midfield were getting on top with Cahir Madden being particularly impressive with some outstanding catches. John Hughes then got his second and the teams third goal before adding another point. Gregory McGovern then made a great driving run from midfield he lost possession but then regained it before shooting past the keeper, both umpires flagged a goal but the referee did not award it. Undeterred by this Enda McGuckin fired over 4 great points followed by one from John Hughes, Swatragh’s only reply being 2 pointed frees. Paul Mc Govern was unlucky not to finish a great move started by himself with a great catch, he played the ball to Enda who passed on to John he played it back to Paul who saw his rasping shot rebound of the crossbar. The half closed with Desertmartin in front by 3-8 to 0-4.
A number of replacements were brought on at half time with Cathal replacing Enda and Ryan replacing Paddy.
Swatragh started the second half strongly and hit 3 early points. Paddy Trainor replied with point before Swatragh stunned Desertmartin with a well taken goal. Swatragh had their tails up at this stage and were being driven on by a strong performance from their Centre Half Back. They added a further point before Desertmartin were stung into action John Hughes switched to centre half forward and Greg and Cahir started to get a foothold in mid field John and Greg added 2 points each Swatragh replied with a point before substitute Mark Murchan pointed for Desertmartin. John Hughes then scored from a free with a brilliant point with the outside of the boot from 45 metres Swatragh again replied before Mark got his second point. The Scoring was completed when Swatragh Pointed a free and John brought his tally to 2-6 with another point. The game was played in a great spirit by both teams Christopher was sound in goals with his kicking out being very good. The defence played fairly well despite giving away a lot of frees, Danny Hegarty and Paul McFlynn played well on their first starts in Midfield Greg and Cahir were very sound up front Paul McGovern had a great game Paddy Trainor also played well on his first start Enda and John were excellent throughout with Mark Murchan also playing well after coming on.
This win virtually guarantees Grade one football for the lads having played at grade three 4 years ago at Under 12, this is a great achievement. The dedication and hard work put in by the players has been rewarded.
Before that however the team have still 2 games left in the group stages with the next game at home to Castledawson next Thursday 5th May at 7.15pm
Team
1. C Bradley
2. D Hegarty
3. P Kidd
4. G McElwee (C)
5. P McFlynn
6. P O?Neill
7. C Monaghan
8. G McGovern (0-2)
9. C Madden
10. E O?Hagan (0-1)
11. S Fullen
12. P McGovern
13. E McGuckan (1-4)
14. J Hughes (2-6)
15. P Trainor (0-1)
Subs
J Leyden
M Murchan (0-2)
C Brown
F Higgins
R Murray
Man Of The match: John Hughes