Our U13s suffered an agonising defeat on Saturday afternoon, falling to a last-minute goal to Castleisland at Murt Scott Park. With just the bare minimum 11 players, Ballyhar started tentively and invited Castleisland onto them. This meant Fionn Clifford had a busy day at centre half but marshalled the defence very well with Daithi Allen and excellent debutant, Callum O'Sullivan, either side of him. Daniel Ryan and Alex Finn worked tiredlessly up front all game, but couldn't make ground at the other end of the field in the first half. Castleisland always looked dangerous and passed through Ballyhar with ease at times during the first half. Then, on 27mins, Castleisland pounced on a stray ballyhar pass in the middle of the park, and quickly thread 2 passes into their forward, who finished well past Noah Browne. H/T 0-1
Positional changes made at halftime changed the game in Ballyhars favour putting Castleisland on the backfoot. Adam Fleming made his mark in the centre of the park, while the pace of Killian O'Sullivan caused havoc down the left. On 45 mins O'Sullivan went on a run into the left corner, pulled it back to Patrick O'Connor who found space at the edge of the box and let loose with a shot that went under the dive of the visiting keeper and into the net. 1-1. It was end to end stuff from there on with Ballyhar enjoying the better possession of the 2 teams. O'Sullivan had 2 great chances to give Ballyhar the lead, with Finn threading him through, 1 shot rolling just outside the left-hand post and the other smothered by the keeper. With subs on the Castleisland sideline relieving tired legs in the final quarter, Ballyhar didn't have that luxury and needed an outstanding save from Noah Browne to keep the score level. But then, with 2 mins to go, Castleisland broke down the right and struck a shot off the crossbar which fell kindly to 2 unmarked players at the back post who slotted it home. FT 1-2
It was heartbreaking for Ballyhar, who had fought so hard and deserved more for their display. There were strong displays in Blue all over the park with special mentions to U12 player Josh Nelligan who stepped up well, a strong start for Callum O'Sullivan, a great display from Noah Browne, and a man of the match performance from Fionn Clifford.