LURGAN Town under 12s took part in the 'Playing For The Future Tournament' at Drumcree College in Portadown last week.
On Monday and Wednesday they played the group stages. Town were drawn in a tough group with Loughgall Youth, Seagoe Youth, Armagh City, Cookstown Youth and Edenderry Boys.
After 10 hard fought matches Town finished the group with 11 points in join
t fourth place which put them into the quarter-final of the Shield.
The draw put them up against a well organised Warrenpoint Town team. In another hard fought match where Town had the better chances it ended in a 0-0 draw. That meant three penalties for both team.
Warrenpoint went first and missed and then Robbie Norton missed for Town. Warrenpoint scored their next penalty and then Daniel McCullough scored for Town. ‘Point then blazed their penalty over the bar and ‘Mr Cool’ Adam Metcalfe took a Ronaldo style penalty into the top left corner to put Town through to the semi-final.
They drew a good footballing St Mary’s team and again Town missed a few good chances to win but it again the game ended 0-0. After the previous quarter final win Town were full of confidence.
Robbie Norton took the first penalty and scored and a St Mary’s player stepped up to coolly place it into the top corner only for Town keeper Adil Faila to pull off a wonderful save. Daniel McCullough made no mistake with his rocket of a penalty. Adil Faila then pulled off the save of the tournament when a piledriver was headed for the top right hand corner only to find the fingertips of Adil.
The Town boys marched on to play a Loughgall Youth team that had already beaten them in the group stages. For the final the pitch was made a bit bigger which seemed to suit the Town boys more. The first half ended 0-0 with Town playing the better football.
In the second half Lurgan stepped it up a gear and from an Adam Metcalfe corner Robbie Norton got his head on the ball to see it over the line for 1-0. Loughgall started to push a bit more but with the Town defenders Nathan Young, Daniel McCullough and Scott Wiltshire in solid form there was no way through.
It was just a matter of time before the second goal came. A couple of lovely one-twos between Jackson Burke, Robbie Norton and Philip Bingham saw Robbie Norton race clear down the right wing, cut inside and square a lovely pass to Philip Bingham to make it 2-0. Town nearly made it three when Matty Turner was put through only for the Loughgall keeper to save well at his feet. The final whistle went and Town celebrated by lifting the Playing for the Future Shield.
To put the icing on the cake Town keeper Adil Faila was named player of the tournament. This was a great achievement for the boys considering half of the team were from the Under 11 squad.
Team was Adil Faila, Daniel McCullough, Philip Bingham, Jackson Burke, Adam Wing, Nathan Young, Robbie Norton, Matty Turner, Scott Wiltshire and Adam Metcalfe.
