Over the weekend, five players from our U14 National League side were part of the Northern Ireland squad competing in the Den Bosch International Tournament in the Netherlands.
Alfie Mulvenna, Phoenix Blayney, Jamison Rainey, Jude Crawford and Zach O’Hara all travelled for the tournament which featured teams from all over Europe including Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and beyond.
The Northern Ireland side were placed in Group D for the tournament alongside Kolding IF from Denmark, FC Volendam from the Netherlands and Asane Fotball from Norway.
In the first group game, Northern Ireland came up against Koliding IF, with Alfie Mulvenna starting the game from the Larne representation in the side. Mulvenna would make his presence known in the opening game, scoring the only goal of the game five minutes from the end to get the side off to a winning start.
Asane Fotball were the next opponents for the young side with Jude Crawford, Phoenix Blayney and Zach O’Hara all starting the game. Zach O’Hara produced an assist in the game for his teammate Liam Kelly of Derry City while Jamison Rainey came off the bench to score the winning goal for Northern Ireland.
The final group game took place in the main Den Bosch arena as the team took on FC Volendam. Alfie Mulvenna started and captained the team alongside Jamison Rainey and Jude Crawford as the Northern Ireland side made it three wins from three with a comfortable 3-0 victory to top the group and progress to the knockout stages.
In the quarter-final of the competition, the young side faced a tough challenge up against Odense BK of Norway. The starting eleven for the game included all five Larne players, with Jude Crawford captaining the side.
After a tense battle, the match ended level at 0-0, meaning the tie would be decided with a three-man penalty shoot-out. Alfie Mulvenna took and scored the first penalty for Northern Ireland, with Mason Ayre and Adam Nelson of Glentoran also scoring. Phoenix Blayney produced the goods in nets to see the side progress to the next round with a 3-2 victory in the shoot-out.
The semi-final of the competition pitted NI against a strong Club Brugge side from Belgium. Alfie Mulvenna started the match for Northern Ireland while Jude Crawford made an appearance as a substitute in the second half of the match.
With the score at 1-1, the boys once again headed for a penalty shoot-out. Alfie Mulvenna stepped up first for Northern Ireland and scored, alongside Mason Ayre and Adam Nelson Glentoran once again who also found the back of the net. Matthew Belshaw of Linfield saved Club Brugge’s second penalty which was enough for Northern Ireland to reach the final of the competition.
In the final of the competition, Northern Ireland took on Bologna FC from Italy. Alfie Mulvenna once again started the match and continued his penalty scoring streak to put Northern Ireland 1-0 up from the spot. Two more penalty decisions would go against Northern Ireland in the game, one in either half. Both penalties were scored by the Italian side and despite Jude Crawford and Jamison Rainey coming off the bench in the second half, Bologna FC would hold on to their lead to win the competition.
