Our u12s traveled to MEK on a wet and misty Saturday morning. Ballyhar settled into the game well but it was MEK who took the lead after 12 minutes. They broke down the left hand side and won a free-kick just outside the box, which was driven past Gavin Sheehan in goals for the opening score. 1-0 Ballyhar kept on probing for a chance to equalize, with our forwards combining well on a number of occasions but were met by a wall of orange each time. Then on 20 minutes Brian Evans won the ball from a kick-out and played a one-two with Jack Cooper before Brian put the ball through to Jack Sheehy who slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner. 1-1. Ballyhar kept the pressure on and got their rewards again on 25 minutes, this Sean Evans doing the finishing from another fine pass by Brian Evans. H/T 1-2

M.E.K. always looked threatening on the break but Ballyhar kept putting them under pressure all over the field, and with just 5 minutes gone in the second half, Paddy Hurley won the ball on the left and played it forward, again the 2 Evans were involved before the ball fell kindly for Jack Cooper who smashed home a great shot into the top left corner 1-3. With Ballyhar defenders and midfielders starting to dominate the game Ballyhar scored again, as Cooper played Sheehy in down the left who shot from a tight angle was not held by the MEK Keeper and rolled over the line to make it 1-4 to Ballyhar. To their credit MEK kept on going and put up a great fight over the final 10 minutes. Some scrappy play by Ballyhar gave the ball away at midfield and with 3 players bearing down on goal they made no mistake scoring into the bottom corner to make it 2-4. As the final minutes approached, MEK pressed hard, winning a kick-out with just 2 minutes left on the clock, they played a one-two through the Ballyhar defence for a 3rd goal to make it a nervy last minute or so, but Ballhar held on in the end to keep the 3 points. F/T 3-4

Our defenders of Paddy Hurley, Dermot Nealon, Noah Finn, Marcus O'Sullivan, Dylan O'Sullivan and Michael Griffin, put in some serous hard runs and defending all morning. Our three midfielders of Jack Cooper, Brian Evans, and Fabian Mortek worked very hard with great passing and movement. While the endless running of our two strikers of Sean Evans and Jack Sheehy found the net when it mattered. Not to forget our two great goalkeepers Gavin Sheehan and Adam Cizmar who made some important saves during the game. Man of the match had to go to Jack Cooper who worked very hard and took his 2 goals very well.