Norton's brace wins the points for Ballycane
Callum O'Reilly heads home an early goal for Coill Dubh against Ballycane Celtic in the KDFL U20 Division
Conor Norton scored twice as bottom of the table Ballycane Celtic recovered after conceding an early goal to come out on top of a seven goal thriller.
The home team started quick and won a corner in the first minute of the game but Coill Dubh defended it well and broke on the counter and earned themselves a corner down the other end. Swinging in a lovely corner Callum O’Reilly headed in the opener at the back post.
Ballycane got going again straight away and after a couple of decent efforts on goal working the away keeper they finally got an equaliser from a corner of their own.
Harry Jones swung the ball in and Eoin Byrne knocked it down to Jake Connolly who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net to make it tie the scores.
Both teams were now creating chances and although Ballycane were having more attempts on target it was Coill Dubh who went ahead for the second time when they swung in a lovely cross from the right and Carroll beat Ryan Nolan with no chance in goals with a good header.
Coill Dubh and Ballycane needed to get going again and they did some nice passages of play led to both Harry Jones and Lewis Knox working the away keeper.
Right-on half-time Sam Murray tried his luck from range but found the away keeper in the way again however from the resulting corner Harry Jones found Eoin Byrne at the back post and he couldn’t miss his header from two yards out to equalise before half time.
The second half became a bit more physical with both teams going hard to try and get the advantage. Eventually Ballycane’s Conor Norton put the home team ahead after a lovely switch ball from Conor Malone played him in one on one and this time Norton found the net having spurned a couple of similar opportunities earlier in the half.
Ballycane began to sit in and invited the away team but they were struggling to find the equaliser. Apart from a couple of times when the home keeper made good saves Ballycane were fairly comfortable and it was them who got the next goal when a long goal kick from Ryan Nolan was pounced on and calmly finished by Corton to make it 4-2 to the home side.
At this stage Coill Dubh threw everything forward. They finally broke Ballycane with virtually the last touch of the ball Moore-Lyons floated a corner to the back post and Ryan Nolan in goals was unlucky not to keep it out. The home side held out for an important three points. In an all round team performance best on the day for the winners were Jake Connolly , Talen Kelly , Conor Norton , Charlie Cahill and Harry Jones.
