CHAMPIONS! Oxford United defeat Sion Swifts to win Andrew Gillespie Memorial Cup!

Andrew Gillespie U14 Final

Oxford United 2

Sion Swifts 0

Oxford United won this year’s Andrew Gillespie Memorial Cup thanks to a brilliant display against Sion Swifts at the Brandywell.

Despite a Man of the Match performance from Sion Swifts goalkeeper James Moore, there was no denying Oxford the win after a dominant display of quality attacking football from the first whistle to the last.

The Derry side had to wait until the second half for the breakthrough because of the performance of Moore, but there was an inevitability about their win despite Moore’s heroics. Chance after chance after chance came Oxford’s way before Kielan McDermott made the breakthrough and a late goal from Jude McGarrigle made sure of the trophy.

Brilliant save

Oxford could have taken the lead in the first two minutes as they carved open the Sion Swifts defence with their very first attack. Reece Schmid found himself through on goal but he was denied by a brilliant save from Moore who pushed the ball away for a corner.

That was a sign of things to come as Oxford dominated the early stages and Sion were in trouble again when Rion McIntyre spread play with a brilliant pass out wide to find Brian McGarrigle, who raced into the area and drilled the ball right across goal, forcing Moore into another interception, this time with his foot, to save Sion for a second time.

There was some beautiful football being played by Oxford, with the passing range of their young midfielders absolutely outstanding, while the movement of the players in red and black was also too much for Sion to handle. This was again highlighted when Eoin Gorman’s ball picked out the run of Schmid, who beat the outcoming goalkeeper to the ball, and prodded it goalwards, only for it to trickle just wide of the open goal.

It was then individual brilliance which almost gave Oxford the lead when Jacob Bond danced through the Sion defence, but Moore was there again to save Sion with another brilliant save.

Half Time 0-0

Oxford kept knocking on the door, but there was just nothing they could do to beat the brilliant Moore in the Sion goal. Ronan Kelly’s corner came all the way to the back post where the ball sat up for Schmid, who must have thought he was certain to score, but the Sion goalkeeper produced an amazing save to somehow keep the ball out.

The young goalkeeper then received applause from everyone in the Brandywell when he pulled off an even better save moments later. Again, Schmid attacked and pulled the ball back for Bond, whose effort beat Moore but came back off the post. The rebound came straight back to the Oxford striker who put everything behind his second shot, but Moore responded with an incredible point blank save to push the ball behind for a corner again. The young goalkeeper was working miracles.

The breakthrough finally, finally came with 15 minutes remaining when Kielan McDermott tried his luck from 25 yards and it was enough to beat the brilliant Moore, with Oxford taking a deserved lead at long last.

Sion gave everything they had to force an equaliser in the closing stages and they had one chance to do so when Cahir Lindsay went through on goal, but Cole Smyth came off his line bravely to gather the ball at the forward’s feet.

That proved a key moment as Oxford went down the other end an won a corner. Again, Ronan Kelly’s delivery caused problems for Sion and Jude McGarrigle was there to glance a header into the net to seal the win with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

There was little time for Sion Swifts to respond, and the final whistle went to confirm Oxford United as a very deserving winner of this year’s Andrew ‘Rambo’ Gillespie Memorial Cup.

Teams

OXFORD UNITED: Cole Smyth, Ronan Kelly, Dean McLaughlin, Eoin Gorman, Rion McIntyre, Kielan McDermott, Reece Schmid, Jude McGarrigle, Brian McGarrigle, Jacob Bond, Thomas Dobbins, Cian Flanagan, Jamie McGuinness, Kia Johnstone, Ryan Arthur, Ewan Watt. 

SION SWIFTS: James Moore, Sean Og McGranaghan, Jamie Finlay, Shaquille Oke, Jamie Hendry, Josh Neeson, Conor McClintock, Roman Kirk, Jack Langan, Jayden Stewart, Jude Burns, Cahir Lindsay, Daniel Sweeney, Jamie Stewart.  

OFFICIALS: Collie McDaid, Adam McDaid, Martin Dunne.

See tomorrow's Derry News for full match coverage.