Abercrombie strike seals win

Ballinamallard U18s 1 Dungannon U18s 0

AN Ethan Abercrombie goal in the second half was enough to grant the Mallards a narrow victory over their Tyrone opponents.

Dungannon did have the lion share of possession in the first half but the Mallards were keeping an excellent defensive shape which limited their opponents to very few chances.

For the hosts, their best chance fell to Dylan Boyle who had smartly created some space for himself but his shot went wide as it remained goalless at the interval.

The second half saw a similar trend prevail with the visitors seeing plenty of the ball and with any chances they did create, they found Nathan Hunter in the Mallards goal tough to beat, including one fine save with his legs on the hour mark.

The introduction of U16 defender Adam Armstrong proved successful as he added a calmness to proceedings when Dungannon were starting to get a foothold in the game.

The Mallards then took the lead when Armstrong won the ball out on the left and his excellent pass found Abercrombie who took the ball in his stride to cut inside and fire a great shot into the bottom corner.

The Swifts did push forward but found the Mallards resolute. Dylan Seaney and Shane Speak both took up excellent positions defensively and were cutting out any wide threats from the Swifts whilst Kealan Fitzpatrick and Bobby Lee Sproule chased tirelessly.

Alfie Mccaffrey and Charlie Clendinning both ran themselves ragged in the middle of the park against very good opposition without seeing much of the ball and for the second week in a row, Sean Corry and Tiarnan Carron came on from the bench and showed a great work ethic to help secure the three points.