On a beautiful, fresh morning in Mastergeeha, Ballyhar U12s won a very evenly contested game. Even though the final scoreline was 5-0, this was in no way a reflection of how tight a contest the game was until the last few minutes.

Ballyhar started off brightly, with some precise passing and selfless forward running creating a few half-chances. Mastergeeha always looked dangerous in attack, with the Ballyhar defense, marshalled by Ollie Kirwan, preventing Mastergeeha from turning their half chances into scores. Adam Quirke, in goals, ensured any shots were kept out. Ballyhar took the lead after about 10 minutes, when Darragh McLaughlin beat a man inside the box, and was taken down from behind. He dusted himself off to tuck away the penalty.

Shortly afterwards, McLaughlin was again involved, when he treaded a beautiful ball into the path of Brian McMahon, who raced in on goal, before slotting a hard shot into the bottom corner.

2-0 at half time.

The 3rd quarter was very evenly contested, with Mastergeeha creating a number of chances that they couldn't convert. Ballyhar got the third, a little against the run of play, when Jack Duggan embarked on one of his trademark runs to beat 3, before finishing past the keeper.

Mastergeeha kept applying pressure, and as they pushed forward to score, Ballyhar had to consolidate, and switched to a more defensive formation to try to keep them out. Again and again, Ballyhar's goalie, defense and midfield repelled the Mastergeeha attacks, and managed to soak up the pressure, before scoring 2 late goals on the counter-attack.

All 13 players really applied themselves today, with some excellent play all over the pitch. Special mentions to Adam Quirke for his clean sheet in goals, Ollie Kirwan who was vocal in keeping his defense organised, Thomas Ryan in midfield who marked his debut with 3 assists, and Brian McMahon for scoring a hat-trick.

Well done lads, and best of luck to Mastergeeha for the rest of the season.

Ballyhar squad: Adam Quirke, Brian McMahon, Ciaràn Ferris, Darragh McLaughlin, Diarmuid Fitzgerald, Ewan Myers, Jack Duggan, Ollie Kirwan, Reuben-James O Leary-Griffin, Sam Myers, Ruairi Casey, Thomas Ryan