Gray’s double strike proves to be the Quay
U-14 PREMIER
QUAY CELTIC 2 MUIRHEVNAMOR 1
TWO quickfire goals early in the first half by the tall and powerful forward Craig Gray captured the points for the home side in this under-14 clash between sides sitting side by side in the bottom half of the premier division.
On exactly the same points the win lifted Quay above their near neighbours who were hampered by the lack of a regular goalkeeper and tried three different players between the posts during the course of the match.
But they recovered from the early jolt to make a spirited fightback and had the chances to draw level after Mac Peters Amjobi, their bustling striker, used his strength to put them right back in the game before the break, breaking two tackles on the edge of the box for his resultant shot to be deflected inside the near post..
However, Quay were overall stronger, and had the opportunities as the second half progressed to make their winning margin more comfortable.
The visitors sprung into attack straight after the kick-off and home goalkeeper Con O’Donoghue flung himself full length in the air to turn a goal bound shot past his post.
Quay responded by taking a grip in attack, and quickly reaped the reward with Gray scoring twice. Jamie Lee, a fast, incisive dribbler, went past three players and shot just wide in the visitors best opening before Amjobi created another himself to reduce the deficit.
The Muirhevnamor goalkeeper made an important save with his feet to prevent Jack Crawford increasing Quay’s lead when put through into the visitors box and shot low minutes into the second-half.
At the other end then O’Donoghue made an equally valuable intervention as he advanced off his line to foil Amjobi as Sean Cassidy split the home defence . Cassidy picked up an injury and Gabriel Ayoub returned outfield in his place, and the latter’s glorious pass from wide of his own 18 yard line provided Amjobi with a golden opportunity to tie up the score.
Played over the half way line it sent Amjobi galloping clear past the last defender with the home side scarce of defenders with them applying strong pressure. The Muirhevnamor striker raced away to just outside the home 18 yard line and tried a shot which he badly screwed and it went weakly wide.
Muirhevnamor’s chance of salvaging a draw was effectively scuppered then as Quay made the most of the attacking running from there to the end. Cassidy was called upon in quick succession to make a double save as his defence was laid bare, and the visitors had another bigger escape when Gray cracked a shot off their crossbar from distance to be denied his hat-trick.
They did threaten an equaliser one last time when O’Donoghue with a flying save pushed away a rasping free-kick by Ayoub from the best past of 25 yards that was heading into the top corner.. QUAY: Con O’Donoghue, Liam Corbett, Callum Smith, Alan O’Reilly, Sean Cunningham, Adam McSkian, Aaron McArdle, Jack Crawford, Oisin Monaghan, Craig Gray, Andrej Lubinovs, Tiernan Watters, Waiharo.
MUIRHEVNAMOR: Tiarnan Cassidy, Cian Jeffers, Calvin Akinyele, Gabriel Ayoub, Dylan McGuill, Jamie Lee, Sean Cassidy, Dylan Weaving, Alex Skesseris, Armand Katavicius, Leon Mulholland, Mac Peters Amjobi.