12 Premier finish 6th in Foyle Cup July 2009

Foyle Cup update

Our 12 Premier team had a disappointing finish to their Foyle Cup experience this week in Derry where they eventually finished in 6th place.

They started their group games on Tuesday with a 5-1 victory over Ballinamallard with the goals coming from Thomas Tiernan, Sean Goulding (2) and  Richie Purdy (2) .

On Wednesday however Derry & District Youths Academy prodvided a much sterner test and it needed an equaliser 2 minutes into injury time by Philip Ward to keep SKB’s title ambitions on track. Derry had taken an 8th minute lead and despite having the lions share of possession we didnt produce many clear cut chances and in the end were very grateful for Phillip’s late late header from a corner to secure a vital point.

Going into Thursday’s final group game SKB’s goal difference was +4 to Derry’s +3 so we had to win by the same score against Bertie Peacock Academy as Derry would if they beat Ballinamallard. Both games kicked off at the same time at venues six miles apart but mobile phone communications kept everyone alerted to happenings at both venues.

SKB were always in control against Bertie Peacock Academy and two goals in each half turned out to be enough to qualify as one of the 7 group winners. Philip Ward opened the scoring early on and James Dunne adding another with a header from a corner just before half time. Shane Elworthy scored twice in the second half to seal the win. Derry secured the 8th quarter-final slot as best group runners-up with a 3-0 win over Ballinamallard.

The line up for the 1/4 finals were as follows:

St Kevins Boys                                 v Hearts F C

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Sheffield United

Motherwell F C                                v F S Academy

Linfield                                                 v Derry & District Academy.

In the quarter final played on Friday morning SKB went a goal down to Hearts but regained the initiative and were leading 2 – 1 with less than three minutes to go when they conceded an equalizer which brought the game to penalties and unfortunately they ended up on the wrong side of a 4 – 3 shoot out result.  Later on Friday they played Motherwell in a game to decide the 5th to 8th placing and ran out  2 – 1 winners with goals from Eoin Evans and Richie Purdy thereby setting up a 5th & 6th place play off game with Derry & District Academy.  This game was played on Saturday morning at the Brandywell showgrounds and SKB never got going in the first half and found themselves 3 – 0 down at half time, a spirited showing in the second half brought the score back to 3 – 2 and that is how it finished.

It was a great experience for players and management and sets them up well in their quest to retain their Premier League title.