Ballincollig Youths team finished off their year in style on Wednesday night with an impressive six goal display against Passage. Mark Walsh was the hero of the night scoring 4 goals and looking dangerous at every attack. Aaron Cooney and James Cooper completed the scoring.
This was a great team display with all players putting in a big effort. It has been a tough year for this team due to the loss of some players through injury and work commitments but it is worth noting that this team inflicted one of only two league defeats on the winners of their division, Innishvilla, and that was down in Innishannon.
Manager Noel Hehir would like to take this opportunity to thanks all the players for their support and commitment during the year. He would also like to thank the parents who helped out with transport to matches. This is a fine squad of young players and hopefully they will prove their quality as they join the ranks of the Senior and Junior teams in the coming season.
Heartbreak for Ballincollig as the promotion chasing Midleton snatched all three points in the last few minutes of injury time.
Ballincollig got off to a bad start conceding a goal from the kick off. However after soaking up intense pressure from a very fast and skilful forward line, Ballincollig got back into the match and were awarded a free kick inside the box following a back pass. Midleton put a wall of 10 players but the free kick was expertly taken by Aaron Cooney to level the scores. Midleton went ahead in the second half and were unlucky not to have gone further ahead. But to the credit of this Ballincollig team they never give up and following some excellent passing moves Brian Daniels swung an excellent corner kick straight into the Midleton net.
Both sides had chances but with time gone it looked like a draw was the likely result. However the referee played an unexplainable additional few minutes during with Midleton scored from a corner kick. A great performance from Ballincollig but an unfortunate result.
Youths Team Lucozade Sport Munster Youths Cup 3rd Round Passage, Saturday 26th December 2009, 2.00 p.m.
Castleview 1 – 1 Ballincollig
Ballincollig won 8 – 7 on penalties
In what was the only game played on St Stephen’s Day, Ballincollig travelled to Castleview battling the ice conditions to record a great victory over the Premier Division side. The match was played in bitter conditions and full credit to both sides for playing excellent passing football despite the soggy underfoot conditions.
Castleview went ahead in the first half when a lack of communication in the Ballincollig defence allowed the Castleview sticker an easy finish. Ballincollig to their credit never dropped their heads and pushed forward at every opportunity. They were rewarded with a powerful header from Mark Walshe from a beautiful corner kick from Aaron Cooney. Both sides had good opportunities to seal victory in normal time but the sides remained level after extra time. It was down to penalties for the second week running for this team having gone out of the National Cup last weekend to Passage on penalties. Those memories must have been in the minds but credit to the Ballincollig players who converted eight penalties to Castleview’s seven. It was a great team performance by Ballincollig given the conditions but special mention must go to Gavin Hennigan the Ballincollig keeper who saved three penalties.
Youths Team FAI Umbro Youths Cup 3rd Round Passage, Saturday 19th December 2009, 3.00 p.m.
Passage 1 – 1 Ballincollig
Passage won 10 – 9 on penalties
Ballincollig went out of the National cup after a tough match with Passage. Ballincollig had a lot of possession but lacked the cuttting edge up front. Passage went ahead through a free kick but Ballincollig equalised with a powerful header from Donal Murphy. Ballincollig had several chances to win the game but could not find the net. Extra time was followed by penalty kicks with both sides scoring excellent penalties. In the end it was Passage who progressed to the next round
Youths Team Daly Industrial Supplies-Stihl League 1 Gurteenard, Saturday 12th December 2009, 2.00 p.m.
Kanturk 1 – 1 Ballincollig
Ballincollig made the long journey to North Cork with the bare eleven players but will feel that they should have gotten all three points in a game they dominated for long periods. Ballincollig outplayed the opposition completely in the first half but the rustiness of not having played a competitive match in six weeks was telling. Numerous chances were missed before Donal Murphy scored with an excellent strike from the left hand side. The second half continued like the first with Ballincollig constantly on the attack and playing some nice football but without having a cutting edge up front. With 20 minutes to go the inevitable happened and Kanturk equalised with a scrappy goal from inside the box. Ballincollig pushed hard for the remainder of the match but could not find a winner.
Youths Team FAI Umbro Youths Cup 2nd Round Lakewood Park, Saturday 17th October 2009, 3.00 p.m.
Lakewood Athletic 0 – 1 Ballincollig
Ballincollig had played the same opposition the previous week in the league and been on the wrong end of a three – one score line. With a full squad to choose from the ‘Collig secured a deserved victory in a hotly contested Cup tie.
The home team took the game to their local rivals from the start and dominated the opening ten minutes; their right midfielder having the best of the chances with a volley that went the wrong side of the post. After the initial flurry Ballincollig began to settle into the game with Damien McEvoy causing the Lakewood back four all sorts of problems. His link-up play was excellent and more than once he picked out a telling pass. Another stand out player for Ballincollig was Mark Walsh whose work rate and fitness made a massive difference. A tackle at the halfway line when the ball was already going out of play to win Ballincollig a throw typified his performance. Lakewood had two great chances before half time but Gavin Hennigan was equal to their efforts and fully deserved his clean sheet over the course of the game. Their shots were constantly blocked by the keeper who is a leaper – doubtless, he can also make things rhyme better than this writer can.
Arron Cooney shepherding the ball
While it would be fair to say that Ballincollig overall had come off second best in the first half it was a completely different story after the restart. The green and white constantly threatened and broke through the home defence but couldn’t seem to find the net. Arron Cooney and Mark Walsh both had great chances before the goal came on the hour mark. Damien McEvoy collected the ball on the half-way line. He found the space to turn and release a pass for Mark Walsh to run onto. The chasing defenders couldn’t catch him and he drilled it low past the keeper to give his side the lead. Conor Leonard had two chances in the space of two minutes but neither could find the net. Damien McEvoy and Arron Cooney also feeling they should have gotten on the score sheet.
There was a fear that Ballincollig would rue all the missed chances as Lakewood pushed hard to find the equalizer and take the game to extra time. The best they could manage were long range shots that went over the bar. Ballincollig kept possession well in the closing minutes and could have had another goal but in the end it was the solitary score that separated the two teams.
