Marty Smith delighted with SuperCup NI history-makers

​Motivated by last year's semi-final heartache, Smith's squad defeated Mexican outfit Tigres UANL 1-0 in the Boys Premier Section showpiece as they were crowned SuperCup NI champions for the first time at the Ballymena Showgrounds.

The Co. Derry team had previously produced the shock of the tournament when dumping out Manchester United at the Coleraine Showgrounds in the semi-finals. Alfie Friars netted a stoppage time equaliser to take the match to a penalty shootout.

The Derry men held their nerves, scoring all four penalties to book their place in the final.

In the final Co. Derry took the lead against Tigres in the first minute through Jacob Dallas and held onto that advantage until the final whistle to write themselves in the history books.

Smith couldn’t hold back his emotions after the game and declared his pride in his heroic young side.

“It’s a little bit hard to take in,” said the coach. “I’m immensely proud and I told the team before the game that they had someone in that stand that they could make so proud.

“We have done it the hard way defeating Rangers and Manchester United and those sorts of memories are the things our boys will never forget.”

The crowd at Ballymena Showgrounds had barely got into their seat when Dallas broke the deadlock in utterly bizarre fashion.

The centre-half received the ball and smashed it up field to clear, but Tigres’ keeper Luis Sanchez completely misjudged the bounce of the ball, leading to it flying over his head into the back of the net.

The county side used this dream start to fuel a strong opening 10 minutes where they looked dangerous every time they went forward.

But Tigres then started to take hold of proceedings, going close with a Luis Mange free-kick but it was Derry who had the next chance through Alfie Gaston.

The midfielder fired his acrobatic finish just over, after mesmerising stuff from captain Senan Devine to tee him up.

Similar to the first half Derry started the better of the two sides and if it wasn’t for a great save by Sanchez they would have doubled their lead.

Gaston connected sweetly with a volley, but Sanchez dived to his right to tip it around the post.

Derry were given a golden opportunity to double their lead in the 48th minute when Sam McClintock was brought down in the box, but the substitute couldn’t score the penalty he earned.

Sanchez in the Tigres net made up for his earlier error to save brilliantly low down to his right. It didn’t prove to be costly for Derry as they saw the game out in a professional manner to be

crowned champions.

"I'm not just delighted for the players, I'm delighted for their parents and their families: they have followed them around, they have washed their kits, they have paid the money to get them here," added Smith.

"The staff have been fantastic for me and my own family, my wife and kids haven’t missed a match and it was great to gave them here.

"It wasn't just about us as a team, it's about the whole group, the parents, families, friends, it's fantastic.

"It's unbelievable. Last year we got to the semi-final and just came up short so we were determined that wasn’t going to happen again.”

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