Our girls academy squads have seen plenty of action in recent weeks with a lot promising performances on show.
Firstly the 2013’s played Glens United, but despite a battling performance they were unlucky not to come away with a win.
The team went behind early but kept battling and finally got their reward with two goals being created by Amelia Weir.
Their best efforts didn’t get them the result on this occasion whilst the player of the match went to Rihann Steele for her brilliant goalkeeping.
The 2013’s were also in action against St Mary’s and the early start didn’t prevent the girls from putting in a great performance.
The team conceded two goals in quick succession as their opponents took the lead, but Bailey managed to give the Inver Reds a route back into the game with a goal of her own.
After St Mary’s managed to get a third, our side really stepped up their performance as a team and they were much more threatening.
Ava managed to get our second, but unfortunately, the girls fell to defeat despite some great play towards the end of the game which saw the side create a number of goalscoring opportunities.
The U11s were in action in several small sided games against Rosario and Ballymena United.
Their first match was a seven-a-side fixture against the Sky Blues which they had to play without a goalkeeper!
By the end of the first break, the scores were level despite the opening stages being tense for both teams. However, the girls responded well to going behind as a well-placed effort from Jodie levelled the scoring.
In their replay, the girls were unfortunate to go behind as their hard work looked to be having an impact on them, but then a goal line scramble led to a second goal for Ballymena which the girls couldn’t garner a response to.
In the third and final game between the two sides our U11s put in their best performance yet and combined well as a team.
After some nice passing moves the girls tested the Ballymena goalkeeper on a number of occasions and could have taken the lead, but it wasn’t meant to be as the Sky Blues took the lead and held on until the end despite some late pressure.
The U11s also took on Rosario in a nine-a-side fixture which ended in a 5-5 goal fest.
Having not gotten the desired results against Ballymena, the squad responded well after a chat with their coaches and managed to put in their best team performance of the set of fixtures.
They got off to a brilliant start when Roxy finished off a well-worked move in the opening minutes, but having almost got to half-time ahead, Rosario got their equaliser just before the break.
After some changes the girls initially fell behind however, it didn’t take long for them to find their form as Anna and Orla proved to be a fantastic strike partnership and we retook the lead.
The game continued to be end-to-end as Rosario added another couple of goals themselves, something that didn’t affect our girls and their efforts. Instead, they continued to put in the work and got their rewards as Gracie played through Amber for another goal.
Both teams managed another goal each and there was nothing to separate the sides in the dramatic encounter.
Our SBYL U12s were unfortunate to fall to a defeat in their final league game of the season.
Despite a wonderful long-distance strike from Abbie, the side went into the second half two goals behind. However, a formation change at the break saw the side put in a much better performance.
There were some great chances created by the team, whilst the opposition goalkeeper made a couple of good saves as the side were unlucky and couldn’t turnaround the deficit.
The U13 girls took on a strong St Matthew’s and came out with another win and three different goal scorers.
Larne were attacking well from the start but some great goalkeeping kept the scores level until a well worked throw-in routine ended with Karis Aiken finding the bottom corner.
After some more good defending and a couple of missed chances, Sophie Aiston added a second before Hanna Abram reacted quickest to a defensive error to score our third.
Meanwhile at the other end communication was key between both goalkeeper and defence to keeping a clean sheet.
Our U15s put in yet another fantastic performance as they faced a Ballymena United who currently play in a higher division.
Both sides played a part in a highly contested match which saw a physical midfield battle and some strong defending.
The Inver Red’s eventually broke the deadlock through Zara Mahoney before Dee Kenny doubled the lead, a goal which saw the girls rewarded for their continuous attempts to push forward.
A revitalised Ballymena came out flying in the second half and grabbed a goal back, but our girls continued to battle before restoring their two-goal advantage with Kenny getting her second of the game.
Despite another late consolation goal from their opponents the side managed to hold on for their win.
Player of the match went to Sophie Jenkins having just edged out great performances from Dee Kenny, Cara Noble, Zara Mahoney, Alix Wilson and Chloe Morrow who all put in superb displays.
