U12: Quay remain in title hunt with win over Shamrocks
Quay Celtic 4–0 Shamrocks
Quay Celtic U12s recorded their 11th win of the season with this comfortable 4–0 victory over Shamrocks on Sunday morning.
It was an important three points for the Point Road outfit that keeps them in second spot in the Premier Division table.
The conditions at a sun-drenched Clancy Park were perfect for football and a determined Quay Celtic side got off to a flying start when Kevin Teather’s short corner was hammered home by Liam O’Hanlon after three minutes.
The hosts enjoyed the majority of possession, using the wings to good effect, and they went close with further efforts by Shay Downey and Eoin Maguire.
They eventually doubled their lead on 16 minutes when Luke O’Connell nipped in between two defenders and slotted home.
Shamrocks’ best chance fell to Matthew McArdle who drifted in behind the Quay Celtic defence but the alert Conor Crawley was alert to the danger and won the race to the ball.
Joe Mellon’s team upped the tempo and they scored a third goal one minute before the break when Luke O’Connell threaded a pass through to Shay Downey who promptly found the bottom corner.
The Quay Celtic players were reminded at the break what happened in the reverse fixture, earlier in the season in Fatima when Quay also led three-nil at the half way stage but Shamrocks stage a second half recovery to level the game.
There was no such comeback this time, however, although an early second half free kick by DD Reilly that shaved the outside of the post almost gave Shamrocks a platform to change the game.
The impressive Reilly was unlucky again on 39 minutes when he got on the end of a Jack O’Shaughnessy pass but his superb volley flew the wrong side of Crawley’s post and wide.
Quay soon regained control of the game and Ivan Savshak was unlucky to see his powerful header brilliantly saved by Shamrocks goalkeeper Ryan Rice Martin.
The Shamrock netminder also denied Shay Downey with a point blank save but Quay added a fourth goal after another Kevin Teather corner kick was headed home by Andrew Begley.
QUAY CELTIC: Conor Crawley, Feidhelm O’Callaghan, Andrew Begley, Liam O’Hanlon, Ivan Savshak, Luke O’Connell, Eoin Maguire, Kevin Teather, Shay Downey, Finn Conlon, Frank Quinn.
SHAMROCKS: Ryan Rice Martin, Sean Connolly, Conor Callan, Jack O’Shaughnessy, Aodhain Kirk, Faroud Ibrahim, Matthew McArdle, DD Reilly, Sean Michael Connolly, Joel Sebastian, Andrew McKay.
REFEREE: Frank Brennan.
