ON Friday, April 18 a party of 25 left Glebeside Community House to attend the Ayr Spring Festival of Football. This was the first time any Glebe Youth team had taken part in any such tournament.
The format of the U14 competition was based on a league consisting of six teams, four from Scotland, one from England and the Glebe Youths.
The competition ran over two day s with three matches on the Saturday and two on the Sunday.
Glebe Youth
s started well with a 2-1 win over KSC Kilbride. This win gave the team great spirit going into the second game against Fulwell from Sunderland. This game proved to be a stiffer test where both teams played out a nil all draw, although the Glebe should have won with a goal disallowed for no reason, to the amazement of all watching.
The third game of the day against Woodside Boys Club from Fife, the eventual winners of the competition ended in a 3-1 defeat. However the management and travelling support were fairly upbeat after the final day with everything to play for.
On the Sunday, Glebe Youths got off to a great start with a 4-1 win over Galvesen Boys Club from Edinburgh.
With everything to play for against Aberdeen Boys Club in the final game, the Glebe eventually ran out 3-1 winners. Aberdeen was a well organised team with an efficient offside trap and it took the Glebe sometime to overcome it.
With the competition over, the management felt very happy and proud of the young players who had given their all in representing their club, Ballymoney Borough and most importantly themselves.
Undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend was the presentation and awards night with special guest of honour, former Glasgow Rangers and Holland star Arthur Numan. Glebe Youths were given a great reception on receiving their individual awards for participation in the tournament however even louder applause was afforded to the team when they were named as the winners of the David Beckham Fair Play Award. This was indeed a huge achievement and now the team go into a draw for a one week coaching courses at the David Beckham Academy in London.
In conclusion the committee of the Glebe Rangers Youths would like to congratulate all the boys for their conduct both on and off the field and also special thanks to all the adults who gave their time to make this such a successful event.
The squad was Philip Doherty, Lee Kelly, Aaron McLean, Christopher Bell, Allister Anderson, Lee McIlreavy, Johnny Malone, Kelim Getty, Ryan Craig, David McDowell, Jamie Hanna, Danny White, Lewis McVicker, Adam McVicker, Andrew Stewart, Ricki Stewart and Daryl McIntyre.
The full article contains 459 words and appears in Ballymoney Times newspaper.