Ballinamallard Youth made their first appearance in the new section of the Under 12 league against Cliftonville FC at the Bawnacre on Saturday.
The home side got off to a stunning start. Callum Jones, back after missing last weekend with illness, fired the ball into box from a corner. Jake Browne pounced on the ball and drilled it past the away side keeper to make it 1-0.
Only moments later, the Mallards grabbed a second. Jones once again fired in a superb corner and Joshua Toal powerfully nodded home to make it 2-0 with only five minutes on the clock.
The away side struggled to make any in roads during the first half as the Mallards back four of Kinnear, Jones, Smyth and Toal were superb.
With twenty minutes on the clock it was 3-0. Some superb passing in midfield by McGrath, Holder and Irvine saw Irvine play a stunning through ball for Owens to hammer home his 9th of the season.
It was a sensational first half performance from the young Mallards, who fought for every ball and never gave Cliftonville a chance to break forward.
However, it was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance from the home side as they produced arguably one of their worst halves of football in the second period.
Cliftonville dominated possession and the Mallards were wasteful with the ball and simply failed to do the simply things correctly.
The away side pulled a goal back when the Mallards back four were caught flat footed and Noble could do little to prevent the effort from going into the back of the net.
Cliftonville soon grabbed a second when once again the Mallards were lazy in possession and a Cliftonville midfielder volleyed past Noble.
The home side were struggling to put any worthwhile moves together and they were relying largely on the rampaging runs of Niall Owens to provide any attacking threat.
On several occasions Owens, worked his way through to goal to see his efforts go narrowly wide.
With only moments to go the Mallards were desperately lucky to hold onto all three points as Noble made a fine save to keep his side in front.
Nonetheless it was three points gained for the young Mallards. Despite a superb first thirty minutes, they came out for the second half believing the three points were in the bag.
Some valuable lessons were learnt from all of the squad and they simply have to play for the full sixty minutes every Saturday regardless of the opposition.
Man of the match for the Mallards was Niall Owens closely followed by Houston Kinnear who was superb once again at right back.
The home side got off to a stunning start. Callum Jones, back after missing last weekend with illness, fired the ball into box from a corner. Jake Browne pounced on the ball and drilled it past the away side keeper to make it 1-0.
Only moments later, the Mallards grabbed a second. Jones once again fired in a superb corner and Joshua Toal powerfully nodded home to make it 2-0 with only five minutes on the clock.
The away side struggled to make any in roads during the first half as the Mallards back four of Kinnear, Jones, Smyth and Toal were superb.
With twenty minutes on the clock it was 3-0. Some superb passing in midfield by McGrath, Holder and Irvine saw Irvine play a stunning through ball for Owens to hammer home his 9th of the season.
It was a sensational first half performance from the young Mallards, who fought for every ball and never gave Cliftonville a chance to break forward.
However, it was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance from the home side as they produced arguably one of their worst halves of football in the second period.
Cliftonville dominated possession and the Mallards were wasteful with the ball and simply failed to do the simply things correctly.
The away side pulled a goal back when the Mallards back four were caught flat footed and Noble could do little to prevent the effort from going into the back of the net.
Cliftonville soon grabbed a second when once again the Mallards were lazy in possession and a Cliftonville midfielder volleyed past Noble.
The home side were struggling to put any worthwhile moves together and they were relying largely on the rampaging runs of Niall Owens to provide any attacking threat.
On several occasions Owens, worked his way through to goal to see his efforts go narrowly wide.
With only moments to go the Mallards were desperately lucky to hold onto all three points as Noble made a fine save to keep his side in front.
Nonetheless it was three points gained for the young Mallards. Despite a superb first thirty minutes, they came out for the second half believing the three points were in the bag.
Some valuable lessons were learnt from all of the squad and they simply have to play for the full sixty minutes every Saturday regardless of the opposition.
Man of the match for the Mallards was Niall Owens closely followed by Houston Kinnear who was superb once again at right back.
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