Linfield 13
Stevenage 0
Report by Harvey Latimer
Bushmills hosted a formidable Linfield side, who added to their opening day victory with a comprehensive win over English side Stevenage.
The scoring began after just five minutes and it came through Linfield forward Dara Donnan, who latched onto Jamie Hamilton’s through ball and produced a tidy finish into the bottom left corner. The Stevenage high line left a plethora of space which the talented Linfield side exploited fully. Quinn Milligan made the run, received the pass and crossed the ball for the unfortunate George Silk to stab into his own net. Jamie Hamilton soon made it three scoring after the ball fell kindly to him on the edge of the box.
Donnan made it four, once again getting in behind the Stevenage back four after a brilliant ball from Calum Evans. The fifth was scored by Conleith O’Neill after the wide man received the ball short from a corner, driving into the penalty area and thundering the ball past Stevenage keeper’ Lucas Thompson from a tight angle. The common route to goal for Linfield produced the same result, a sixth goal and a hat trick for striker Dara Donnan.
Linfield were just as relentless in the second half. Donnan was released once again and rounded Thompson to score his fourth of the game. Within a few minutes, Milligan and Jacob Thompson’s brace of headers put The Blues further ahead. Injury-ravaged Stevenage were forced to play with 10 men for the remainder of the second half and Linfield substitutes Noah Henderson and Oliver Prenter made their presence felt by adding a goal each, either side of a goal from the impressive Hunter Beattie, finishing off a resounding win which puts them in a strong position in the Minor Section of the tournament.