The Bailey Tigers concluded their programme of league matches on Wednesday night, to finish off a great first season in Division 3, by beating Armagh side Ashley 7-1. After a shaky start to life in Division 3 the Tigers went unbeaten from the last week of November right through til May. This run included 13 wins in a row and helped them win the Beckett Cup.

Wednesdays game began with Brian Somerville causing untold problems in the Ashley defense and after the same player had been brought down in the box, Graham Jarvis stepped up to score the spot kick. Soon after Kieran Kelly made it 2. Kelly doubled his total for the night with a well taken 3rd and Derek Morgan scored a superb goal to make it 4. Right on half time the brilliant Somerville helped himself to a goal, his 25th of the season, and so the Bailey went in at half time 5-0 to the good.

Ashley put up a better show in the second half but they couldnt do anything about the thunderous effort from Ricardo to make it 6. The Armagh side did pull a goal back after a great strike from their central midfielder, but it was left to goalkeeper Sean Coulter to bring the house down with a goal from a corner kick to leave the final score Bailey Tigers7 Ashley 1.

The end of season trip to Liverpool for the friendly and the awards night is on May 30th to June 1st. A coach will leave Coltons at 2pm sharp on Friday to Belfast International Airport, and will lift the team again on Sunday evening at 7.15 pm. Please remember to take only hand luggage as everyone has already been checked in online.
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The Management and players of the Bailey Tigers would like to thank everyone who has helped us this season. Particular thanks goes to all our sponsers and especially Michael Colton for his generousity. To Nigel Hill and staff for ensuring the pitches were in excellent condition and to United hot food bar for providing the after match meals. Also to Shirley Kelly and all at the RSD were the training facilities were second to none. Finally to the local press for their continued support of the Bailey and local soccer.
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Pre season training begins on Tuesday July 15th 2008.

The Bailey fought out a very entertaining 2-2 draw against promotion rivals Aghalee on Saturday. Both teams needed to win to keep promotion hopes alive but as it was, neither team to find the winner .

Thre Tigers began sluggish against a big physical Aghalee side and soon found themselves behind on 10 minutes after Aghalee scored from a corner. The Bailey then began to play some good football and Kieran Kelly found the net after some excellent work from McCann. Half Time 1-1.

The Bailey took the lead deservedly 20 minutes into the second half when the Aghalee keeper could only parry Somerville's stinging shot and McCann was on hand to turn the ball into the net. With time running out Aghalee launched a counter attack and scored from a fine cross with a great diving header from the Aghalee midfielder. Final score 2-2.
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The Bailey would like to hearf from anyone who would like to help out on the committee next season. Anyone interested should contact Niall Murray or any committee member or player.
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Finally congratulations to Dungannon Rovers who won promotion to the 2nd divison last weekend.

The Bailey Continued their winning streak with a 2-1 victory away to Broomhill at loughgall on Wednesday last before hammering Banbridge Rangers 5-1 at The White city on saturday.

David Tate's penalty after great work from man of the match Brian Somerville, opened the scoring for the Bailey against Broomhill and Barney McCann's late strike ensured the Tigers would be going into the weekend encounter with Banbridge still with their promotion chances intact.

The Bailey began well and Bruno Machado opened the scoring after a superb volley from 12yards. Just before the half time break a thunderous free kick from Ricardo Machado came back of the bar and Kieran Kelly was on hand to turn it in to make the half time score 2-0.

The second half was only 10 minutes old when Brian Somerville made it 3-0 and when Kieran Kelly added a 4th the game was over as a contest. Banbridge pulled one back but soon after Kelly completed his hat trick and a 5th goal for the Bailey. Next up is an away trip to Aghalee on Saturday as the Bailey try to make it 14 wins on the trot.
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A challenge game has been arranged for the Baileys end of season trip to Liverpool on May 30th. An itinerary of the trip will be distributed to the players in the coming days.

The Bailey Tigers stretched their winning streak to 11 games with a hard fought 2-1 win on Saturday verus a determined Caledon Rovers side. The Bailey, backing up from their Beckett Cup win on Thursday night, took a while to get into their stride against a Caledon side fighting for points to avoid the drop to Division four. After 10 minutes the Bailey took control of the game and Somerville and Kelly both had chances to take the lead for the Bailey after good work from Morgan and Dixon in the heart of the Bailey midfield. The Tigers dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead after Ricardo found Mustafa, who played through Somerville and the Tigers top scorer made no mistake from 18 years.

The second half started as the first had ended with the Bailey creating chances however Caledon started to get into the game and despite great work from Coulter, O’Neill, Tate, Ricardo and McCann they got their equaliser with a stunning 35 yarder. With time running out, and a draw no good for the Tigers promotion push, man of the match Barney McCann pushed from defence to attack, and was on the end of a terrific move to lash the ball into the top corner of the Caledon net. Indeed McCann put in a performance that defied believe covering every blade of grass on the white City pitch.

Next up for the Bailey is a mid week trip to Broomhill with kick off 6.45pm. The Tigers will be hoping to add to their impressive winning run.

The Bailey Tigers captured the much coveted Beckett cup on Thursday with a well deserved 2-0 victory against an over a physical Donacloney team. The game was played at the home of Irish 1st Divison outfit Lurgan Celtic, and a sizeable crowd filed through the turnstiles to see the Tigers lift their first cup in the Mid Ulster Football League.

The game began with the Bailey on the attack and this was to set the trend for the remainder of the game. Although the Bailey was putting their oponents under serious pressure, there were no real clear cut changes until after 20 minutes when the 'cloney keeper pulled off a great save from Graham Jarvis. Soon after a corner from Ricardo was meet with a bullet header from left winger Peter Devlin high into the top corner of the net, to give the Bailey a deserved lead.

The Bailey were on top in midfield but lost the services of centre midfielder Sean O'Hagan after a nasty challenge from the Donacloney number10. Derek Morgan came in to replace O'Hagan and not long after it was Morgan who fed Eoin Donnelly, and an outstanding pass from Donnelly released top scorer Brian Somerville who smashed the ball to the net from 12 yards to leave the half time score Bailey Tigers 2 Donacloney 0

The second half began with the Tigers keeping posession of the ball, much to the annoyance of some of the opposition who began to mistime a lot of their tackles. It was one such tackle that led to the dismissal of the Donacloney number 10 and effectivly put the final beyond them.

Kieran kelly, who came on for the superb Jarvis went close late on as did the outstanding Somerville but the scoreline remained 2-0 as the final whistle blew to huge celebrations from the Bailey players and supporters alike. Captain Gareth Hughes lifted the cup from Mid Ulster Secretary Paul Suckling to bring the final to a conclusion.

This was a suberb team performance with outstanding displays from O Neill, Hughes and Tate in defence, Jarvis, Dickson, Donnelly and Morgan in midfield and Jarvis and Somerville in attack. Man of the Match was the "silent assassin"Peter Devlin.

The committee and players would like to thank Coltons Bar and The Shambles Cafe for their very kind sponsership.