Junior Finals Roundup (2012)

2012 NI Milk Cup Junior Section Winners Brentford FC celebrate their win over Everton in the Final

Junior Finals Roundup (2012)

Brentford caused a major upset as they proved too strong for Everton in the Junior Section final.

The London Bees were seen as outsiders up against last year’s champions Everton – a side who had made four out of the last five finals at this level.

However a goal early in each half ensured the trophy would be making its way to London and not Liverpool.

Brentford set their stall out from the off and could have taken the lead on just three minutes when

Toffees goalkeeper James Talbot had to produce a smart save to deny Courtney Senior.

However they didn’t have to wait long and the opener arrived just a minute later with James Ferry the architect.

His perfect through ball found Herson Rodrigues Alves who fired past a helpless Talbot.

After taking time to get into the game Everton began to find their feet and were only a denied by the woodwork on 26 minutes.

Five-goal George Newell  saw his looping  header come back off the crossbar before being cleared by the Brentford backline.

As Everton grew in stature they might have been level two minutes later when Kieran Dowell exchanged passes with Newell before sending an effort just past Jordan Carey’s post.

Brentford had to be alert just after the restart when Ben Peden was in the right place at the right time to clear Charlie Edge’s effort off the goal line.

However, this was to be the Londoners’ day and they doubled their lead 17 minutes from time, this time from the penalty spot.

The lively Senior was felled inside the box by James Graham and skipper James Ferry stepped up to to give Talbot little chance.

Brentford might have had a third four minutes later but Reece Cole’s free-kick was just too close to Talbot in the Everton goal.

Everton might have netted a consolation right at the end, but were denied once more by Peden, who was in the right place to clear Charlie Edge’s header.

The final whistle sparked jubilant scenes as Brentford put their name on the trophy for the first time.

Meanwhile, Liverpool bounced back from penalty heartache in their semi-final defeat to the eventual winners to claim third spot with a resounding 3-0 win over Watford at Rugby Avenue in Coleraine.

The £2million teenager Oluwaseyi Ojo opened the scoring while Marko Dabro and Lewis Wenton also grabbed a goal apiece.

Londonderry were the toast of the local sides in the entire tournament as Ollie Mullan’s young side were crowned as the best county side of 2012.

Ben Dohety, Josh Elliot (2) and Stephen Mills were all in target in the resounding 4-1 win over Queen of the South.

Meanwhile County Down’s youngsters ended with a bang, beating Dundalk 4-1 in the Plate final.

Dylan O’Hanlon was on target for Dundalk, but Down hit back through Michael Johnston, Lee Ward and the Junior Player of the tournament Nic Turkington’s brace.

Turkington also shared the Golden Boot with Everton hotshot George Newell, finish on five goals each.