The Under 12s departed for Dublin on Saturday knowing that a win would etch their names in the history books forever, and complete a remarkable Treble winning season!
The team bus set off from The Oval at 7.30am, but the early start was not going to deter the boys from ultimate glory. Having fallen short at the same stage last year after extra time, they displayed a professional attitude and burning desire to set the record straight from the word go.
The Wee Glens this time around were able to put their Foyle Cup experiences against Southern opposition to use, and came out of the blocks quickly, taking the game to their opponents from the off.
Malachy Smith and Myles Murray won the central midfield battle in the opening 15 minutes which allowed Eoin Brown and David Sloan freedom of attack down the wings. Eoin in particular was getting plenty of joy with a supply of balls down the line from full-back Dylan Bell. The North Dublin outfit struggled to contain the relentless Glentoran attack, and the supply of crosses from wide areas should have produced an opening goal for the Glens in the first half.
The best chance of the half fell to last season’s top goalscorer Matthew Strain, but he hooked his snap shot over the crossbar. Ben Cushnie then forced his way between the Dublin centre backs and found himself one-on-one with the ‘keeper after latching onto a great through ball from Strain, but the Dublin stopper managed to dive at Ben’s feet and prevent a certain goal.
Despite dominating possession and limiting Dublin to long range shots only, the Glens failed to break the deadlock, and the score remained goalless at half-time.
Shortly after the restart Sean Gallagher went close with a bullet-like header from a corner kick, narrowly missing the crossbar. Cameron Beacom-Hurle was beginning to look dangerous as he raided forward striking fear into the opposition midfield and defence.
The Dubliners’ goalkeeper was in inspired form, and it seemed the Glens’ luck was out as chance after chance went begging. A great left foot drive from Niall Grimley was gathered by the keeper, and then a few moments later the Glens thought they had the ball in the net, but Josh McAteer’s effort had rattled the side netting.
Jake Kennedy then thought he had bundled the ball over the line in the midst of a goalmouth scramble, but again Dublin got off the hook as the linesman waved play on much to the young Glens’ dismay who were adamant the ball had crossed the line.
With all of this pressure and no reward, Glentoran were becoming nervy and susceptible to the counter attack. North Dublin had refreshed their troops with the introduction of several substitutions. It looked as though the Glens would regret all those missed chances as Dublin enjoyed a 5 minute spell of pressure and went close to opening the scoring themselves, but Paul McLaughlin in the Glentoran goal was equal to the few chances created by Dublin’s tricky No.7.
The Glens rearguard, captained by the brilliant Lewis McGarvey, stood firm and weathered the storm which paved the way for the eventual breakthrough 10 minutes from time. Jake Kennedy charged down the Dublin defence and forced them into a mistake which Josh McAteer took full advantage of, this time making no mistake as he tucked the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
A few minutes later the job was complete; classy left back Ethan Warnock, who had put in his best performance yet in a Glentoran shirt, overlapped the flank and beat two Dublin lads in one movement. He picked out Mal Smith inside who in turn displayed superb vision and skill to give the most delightful defence splitting pass for Josh McAteer to go through and bag his brace.
As the referee brought the game to its conclusion, the magnitude of the boys’ achievement began to sink in with them as they launched a sustained and unprovoked attack on their coaches, with one falling victim to a pile-on and still suffering a damaged rib cage and toe today, and the other having to make the 2 hour journey back North with his shirt stuck to his back drenched in Lucozade!
These well decorated young men are now the envy of many youth teams around the country with a set of trophies and medals that many can only dream of, including 2 Irish Cups, a Foyle Cup, and now the All-Ireland Champions’ Cup.
Final Score: North Dublin 0 - 2 Glentoran
GLENTORAN FC UNDER 12s – TREBLE WINNERS SEASON 2012/13
Squad: Paul McLaughlin, Ethan Warnock, Lewis McGarvey, Sean Gallagher, Dylan Bell, Cameron Beacom-Hurle, Myles Murray, Malachy Smith, Eoin Brown, Ben Cushnie, David Sloan, Matthew Strain, Niall Grimley, Josh McAteer, Odhran Connolly, Jake Kennedy, Keelan Quigley.