The U16 footballers began their Ulster Championship campaign yesterday in the U16 Paul McGirr Tournament. Their opposition was Aughnamullen of Monaghan and the game started at an extremely high pace and within minutes Ryan O’Hare had stuck the ball in the net for the blues first score with a perfectly positioned goal. The blues continued to lump on the pressure and Man of the Match Eoghan Byrne followed soon after with an extremely well taken goal. The teams then continued to exchange scores with points from Conor Lavery, Cian McLoughlin and three from Byrne, the man was on fire with a personal tally of 1.03 at the break. Eoin Carr was the man who stood up to take the free kicks and scored a wonderful point just before the whistle. The blues continued to defend well anytime Aughmullen had possession and went in at halftime the lads were 2-07 to 0-8.
The blues came out first at the beginning of the second half and Aughnamullen had made a few changes in positions to try and prevent the onslaught of Eoghan Byrne who was on fire and drove at their defense non stop. Ruairi McCormack at midfield was doing a sterling job on their captain keeping him from making runs down the middle and this was inevitably one of the main positives of the game.
The blues continue to increase their lead and full forward Aaron McBurney increased the lead yet again and taking his penalty with precision. At this stage the young blues were settling in well and could see the finish line in sight. However a substitution which saw yellow carded Byrne being replaced saw the Monaghan lads make the most of this and they scored 3 goals to push the blues to the wire. However young Ryan Haughey in goal had to make a few shot-stoppers and pulled this off with ease, he has had a fantastic performance throughout this championship.
At the final whistle the final score was 4-12 to 3-10 in favour of the blues and deservedly Eoghan Byrne was awarded Man of The Match after an excellent game. Michael McGirr presented Eoghan with his trophy and the team now progress to the quarter finals against St Brigids of Antrim which will be played Saturday 12 November, again in Dromore GFC Tyrone.
We wish the management team and players all the best.
