Club news
CLUB DAY 2008/2009
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR AWARD WINNERS
CLUBMAN PLAYER OF YEAR
UNDER 10 MATTHEW McIVOR JOHN TONER
UNDER 11 ENDA KELLY-McCANN PETER WEBB
UNDER 11RS NIALL McALLISTER MATTHEW McCRORY
UNDER 12 CHRIS KELLY CONOR KERNAGHAN
UNDER 12 RS DAVID CULLEN ORAN MAGEE
UNDER 13 JOE CUNNANE PETER MORGAN
UNDER 13 RS ALEX LAVERY CONAL McGARRY
UNDER 14 CATHAL CONWAY NIALL QUINN
UNDER 14 RS PATRICK McCORMACK MARCO ABBATE
UNDER 15 CONOR FLORENCE GAVIN SAVAGE
UNDER 15RS PADDY BLANEY MICHAEL WHITE
UNDER 16 PETER MOONEY GARRETT CULLEN
UNDER 17 JAMES McKEE GERRY BOGUE
UNDER 17RS CONOR Mc KENNA CIARAN CARVILLE
GOLDEN BOOT GARY LAVERY, UNDER 12s (61 GOALS)
DES BRENNAN TROPHY RONAN O'KANE
SPECIAL MERIT AWARDS WERE MADE TO:
BEN LEONARD FOR BEING PICKED FOR N.IRELAND AT UNDER 15
CIAN MURPHY AND MARK ROBINSON FROM MINI SOCCER FOR REPRESENTING THE CLUB AT THE IFA KEEPY UP CHALLENGE.
What a great way to end a season!. After our success in the SBYL Cup the previous Saturday, we were invited to take part in Castle Junior's tournament at Ballykllaire, Bangor. We were part of an 8 team tournament involving amongst others the host team, Glentoran, Hillsborough Boys, Greenisland Boys and Glentoran.Due to unavailability of some players, we had to call on a potential new recruit, Matty Clarke, and Ryan McGuigan from the under 11 team. Thank you to both of them for turning out and I'm delighted to say that both of them did themselves and Aquinas proud.The matches were 15 mins each half and on a cold,wet and windy day, each and every player was required. We started sluggishlwith a 3-1 win over Bryansburn although Chris Kelly took a bad knock to his knee that was to practically finish his participation in the tournament. We followed up this with a game against Greenisland Boys who have a great and deserved reputation in junior football.Again we started slowly a!
nd gave the ball away too easily. Greenisland competed well and led 1-0 at half -time. What a turnaround after the break led by a Dominic Mooney inspired revival. It is a long time since this correspondent has seen Dominic play to this standard and his 2 goals were simply outstanding and broke the hearts of Greenisland, Aquinas running out 4-1 winners. Next game was against our old rivals Glentoran and the team appeared to be inspired by our previous victory, running out comfortable 3-0 victors. By this stage we hasd only 12 fit players as Chris was unable to continue.Needless to say, the boys rolled up their sleeves and got on with it.We were through to the semis and played Hillsborough Boys from the other section.The weather conditions were poor at this stage and some of the boys were carrying a few knocks and bruises and compared to other teams, we were unable to call on reinforcements. The boys gave everything and despite being under pressure at times our magnificent !
defence held firm. Every player gave their all and at the end !
we ran o
ut 2-0 winners. The boys looked out on their feet (apart from the "road runner" Conor Kernohan - where does he get his energy from!).We were through to the final and thankfully we had a bit of a break before the final.Have you ever tried asking or getting 13 boysto rest up and take it easy for a while? We even got Conor (Rolls Royce) King not to eat any chips before the final game. The final was against our SBYL rivals Carryduff who had topped their section unbeaten.We had only 12 fit players and before the final Marcus "The Magician" Murphy was unwell and Gary "Goals" Lavery was carrying a foot injury. Conor Kernohan was only slightly tired as he had just run a half marathon during the 20 minutes break and was challenging allcomers to 2 laps of the pitches! The only person interested in the challenge was Dominic!.The final started badly with Carryduff scoring quickly when one of their players hit a great shot that was carried in th wind leaving Dermot "the cat" McMenami!
n no chance as the ball sailed into the roof of the net. This seemed to galvanise Aquinas. What was even more pleasing was the composed way that they played the ball around. No hoofing the ball aimlesly forward. Passing and movingthe ball quickly, the equaliser when it came was simply superb. Dominic Mooney picked the ball up just inside the opposition half and set off on a slalom like run, weaving his way past 3 Carryduff defenders before crashing a superb left foot shot into the corner of the net from just inside the penalty area. What a goal!.From the restart Aquinas pressed Carryduff back and caused mayhem in the Carryduff defence. A corner was won and Neill O'Reilly who had been used in both full back positions deliverd a perfectly weighted corner for Conor King to outjump the opposition and score with a great header off the inside of the near post. What a comeback. "Magic" Marcus then turned the defence inside out and hit a great shot narrowly wide. Aquinas were forc!
inga very good Carryduff team back and "Magic" Marcus scored a!
wonderf
ul third when he outpaced the defence and scored with a great shot into the roof of the net. What a 5 minutes by Aquinas. Half time 3-1It had bee.. long tournament and the pace was beginning to tell on some of the boys (and coaches and parents and supporters).Meanwhile Dominic Mooney and Conor Kernohan did a 10 k run just to make sure they did not cramp up. Oh to be young again!The second half started and it was great to see the way that Aquinas kept the ball and passed it round, tiring out the opposition and not really giving Carryduff the opportunity to pull a goal back. Further opportunities fell to Gary "Goals" and "Magic" Marcus but this time we were unable to take our chances. However with Dermo safe in nets, David Smyth and Neill O'Reillyclearing up everything that came their way in defence and the "Iron Man" Mikey Cummings never missing a ball ( or an opportunity to tackle anyone- boy does this guy love a tackle!), Aquinas played out the remaining minutes for !
a deserved win.This wa simply a superb exhibition of effort,determination, will to win allied to some superb goals and football skills. What a way to end the season.All thanks and praise to the squad in Bangor - Dermot "the cat"McMenaminDavid "the shadow" SmythNeill"where's my sweets" O'ReillyMikey"Iron Man" CummingsConor"Rolls Royce"KingDylan "smiler" ManganDominic "kick the grass" MooneyConor "Roadrunner" KernohanSean "the noise" Johnston - what a brilliant side foot volley against Hillsborough BoysChris "the Speed" KellyMatty "Lefty" ClarkeRyan "the wing wizard"McGuiganGary "Goals" LaveryMarcus "The Magician" Murphy.Apologies if I have left anyone out but it is late at night and I am very tired and emotional. Big thanks to Marty, Phil, Alan and all the parents who assisted and supported us all day long (and it was long).Last seen, Conor Kernohan was seen challenging a pigeon to a race!What a great day. What a bunch of players! Blue & Black army! !
Blue & Black army!
AQUINAS DONATE OLD KIT TO AFRICA.
AQUINAS HAVE DONATED A LOT OF OLD KIT AND TEAM WEAR TO METROLINK WORKERS WHO ARE GOING OUT TO SOUTH AFRICA FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS TO TAKE PART IN A PROJECT TO BUILD SCHOOLS AND CRECHES. THEY WORK WITH SEAN MONTGOMERY, THE UNDER 14 RED STAR MANGER AND ASKED HIM IF AQUINAS WOULD HELP WITH KIT. THE CLUB WAS DELIGHTED TO GET INVOLVED AND HELP IN THIS SMALL WAY. SEVERAL OLD KITS AND VARIOUS OTHER BITS AND PIECES WERE DONATED.
CIS Keepy Up Competition.
From Conor McCleave, Mini Soccer Director
On Sunday 29 March 2009 we sent two boys to a national keepy up competition organised by The IFA at Olympia L.C. Belfast. There were representatives from all the CIS mini skills soccer centres there and the 2 boys that were there representing the club did themselves, the club and their families proud. The structure of the day was ran along similar lines to our own mini skills soccer centre and the boys and girls had an opportunity to play small sided games, practice some skills and have some shooting practice before they had their go at the competition proper. There was some great skills shown by all the boys and girls that attended and the two Aquinas boys did not let themselves down.
Onto the main competition and first up in the under 8 Boys category was Cain McDonnell. Cain managed to do 29 “keepy ups” and did really well. Next up for the club was Mark Robinson in the under 11 Boys category who managed to do 68 “keepy ups” and narrowly miss out on second place. I think everyone will agree this was a great effort by both boys considering they were the youngest in their age groups respectively.
Lastly, can I take this opportunity to pass my thanks on to the Parents of both boys for their patience and support and to the IFA for such a well run event.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CONOR KING AND GARY LAVERY OF THE UNDER 12s. CONOR HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR THE ANTRIM DEVELOPMENT SQUAD AND GARY FOR THE DOWN DEVELOPMENT SQUAD. CONGRATULATIONS AS WELL TO MINI SOCCER COACH MARTY McNALLY, PART OF THE UUJ HARDING CUP WINNING TEAM
