Five star Academy start Burney Cup campaign by crushing Campbell

The tie of the round, as many described it, was a short and sharp performance from the Academy as the side look at complete the double following their McCullough Cup success.

The flowing, passing movement evident this season and the attack mentality saw the deadlock broken after just two minutes as Jake Rowe opened the Burney campaign with a superb solo finish when put through on the Belfast keeper.

Just moments later, after a fine steal, Knox fed McKee to allow Farson to be upended to earn the Academy their first short corner. The Belmont Hotel backed Academy showed their training touch as Scott injected sweetly for McKee to smash home from mid circle to make it 2-0.

McKee turned provider for the third as he set-up Aaron Reid for a well-taken finish,

The likes of Reid, McKee and Rowe proved just too good for their opponents as all three linked with Scott and Farson before David Armstrong kept his goal-scoring form in full flow making it 4-0 after sweeping home first time - a fantastic finish to a well-worked team goal.

The interval advice from Cordner and Clarke was to maintain the huge quality on display alongside patience in possession and to play with freedom in the right areas. The second half gave an opportunity for Coach Cordner to give yet more valuable development time to several younger players including Charlie Norris, Dylan Cowan, Sam Green and Peter McKnight who all played extremely well when introduced for lengthy productive spells, allowing rotation and much needed experience.

The Academy could - and should- have added more goals with Armstrong, McKnight and Scott all seeing shots saved well by the Campbell College keeper, before Sam Farson duly swivelled and smashed home number five in the 63rd minute.

wSome indifferent views on the tackle saw Campbell College win their second set piece which gave them their goal in the final minute to end the Burney game with a well deserved, if somewhat frustrating, 5-1 score against a defensively-styled side.

The Academy will be awaiting their quarter-final opposition in Friday’s Sintons at the Bridge Burney Cup Draw, to be held at Stormont. The quarters will be staged on Saturday 28th February.

The boys would like to thank all those parents who made the trip to CCB to support the team in the Schools’ Cup and past pupil Mr Richard Cowan for umpiring.