DERRY U15A FC: Ballinascreen seal three-in-a-row

BA Mullan & Son U15A Football Championship

Ballinascreen 3-9

Lavey 2-3

Ballinascreen produced another thunderous second half display in front of a packed-out crowd in Pairc Seán De Brún to secure their third Championship title in a row against a determined Lavey outfit who battled right to the end in a thrilling contest.

Similar to the Screen development squad who had just secured the C Championship beforehand, a devasting second half performance saw Screen outscore Lavey 1-6 to 0-0 after the sides were level at halftime.

Straight from the throw in Michael Burns claimed the ball and set Screen off in attack which Ger Dillon finished from wide on the left.

Fintan Quinn

Shortly afterwards Screen hit a purple patch when the industrious Fintan Quinn clipped over a point off his left. From the resulting Kickout the hard working James Walls who had a storming game tidied up the loose ball and released Burns who hammered to the net after breaking through a few heavy tackles.

Lavey were further rocked when the excellent Paul McNicholl collected the breaking ball and released the elusive Shea Murray who danced his way through and slotted home Screen’s second goal.

Credit to the Lavey men though who didn’t drop the heads claimed the kickout and released the mighty James Sargent who scored a trademark goal following a storming run through the centre, to the bottom left of keeper Ciaran Murray-Williams who was unlucky not to get a stronger hand on the well placed shot.

James Walls

This was quickly followed up with a point and then an awkward bounce saw a number of boys contesting the high ball and somehow it was slipped into the Screen net. Game on!

Paul McNicholl steadied the Screen ship again with the first of his three points after a controlled possession where the tireless Michael Higgins showed deft hands to find McNicholl in a pocket of space to fire over.

Dara O’Kane scored a wonder point on the stroke of haltime from wide on the right when Dara McKenna thought he had done everything possible to thwart the shot. The latter two providing an intriguing duel all night which in itself was worth the admission fee.

The Screen lads regrouped in the changing rooms and came out in the second half and dominated the game from start to finish.

Brian Quinn broke free from Rian Collins shackles in the second half with a stunning 1-4 from play which all but wrapped up the title.

Paul McNicholl adding a brace to ensure there was no way back for Lavey, the last point in particular which eptiomised the way this remarkable team has played all year. Patrick Heaney who produced a mighty display showed short for a kickout leaving a pocket of space for Keeper Murray-Williams to laser the restart over his head to Michael Burns.

Burns plucked it from the sky and released Gabhan McIvor to speed up the line before delivering a neat inside pass to fellow captain Dillon who took the ball straight through the heart of the Lavey defence and slipped the ball to the left where McNicholl was tirelessly coming off the shoulder and slotted home the last point of the evening.

The Lavey men threatened a comeback again early in the second half but could find no way past the impressive Oisin McWilliams who claimed a number of dangerous balls around the Screen goalmouth.

Lorcan Murray on the other corner was ably assisted by Matthew McCullagh who’s driving runs constantly penetrated the Lavey lines all night.

On another memorable championship night in the clubs history where the Screen U15 Development squad had already lifted the Derry C Championship, joint Captains Ger Dillon and Gabhan McIvor lifting the A Championship cup for the third year in a row to cap off an unbeaten season to go along with their league title and first ever A Feile title.

Ballinascreen: Ciaran Murray Williams; Lorcan Murray, Matthew McCullagh Oisin McWilliams; Gabhn McIvor, Dara McKenna, Paul McNicholl (0-3); Ger Dillon (0-1), Michael Burns (1-0); Patrick Heaney, Michael Higgins, James Walls; Brian Quinn (1-4), Fintan Quinn (0-1), Shea Murray (1-0).

Subs: Jake Quinn for M Higgins, Cain Doyle-Kennedy for M Burns & Liam McKenna for P Heaney.