Saturday 23 July
Northern Ireland Tour: Dungannon Swifts 2 Huntly 2
Huntly ended their Irish tour undefeated as they drew 2-2 against Irish Premier League side Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park.
Swifts, who had just returned from a successful tour of Canada, were the side who qualified for the Uefa Cup this season only to decline their place due to the lack of Uefa affiliation.
Huntly gave a first start to Darren Shallicker, in a re-shaped team which also saw Matthew Gairns return to the starting eleven.
Dungannon boss Joe McAree included summer signings Thomas Wray (Institute), Darren Murphy (Linfield) and Mark McConkey (Ballymaillard) while Noel Johnson (Omagh Town) and several trialists were on the bench.
The game was hotly contested from the start, but the first clear cut chance didn’t come til the ninth minute when Shallicker fired a free kick narrowly wide having been fouled by Mark Gracey.
With eleven minutes on the clock the visiting delegation were on their feet when Gordon Farmer released Mark Gray - whose shot looked like it had given Huntly the lead, only to reappear from the side netting.
In the twentieth minute Venezuelan International Pedro Delgado swung in a corner finding Thomas Wray unmarked on the penalty spot but his free header flew just wide of the far post.
A minute later, good interplay between McConkey and David Scullion saw the former bring a great diving save from Bowman with no defenders in sight.
But Huntly took the lead in the 33rd minute when Jerry O’Driscoll sent a great defence-splitting ball to Darren Shallicker who slotted under the advancing Stuart Addis from just inside the box.
Three minutes later, there was a real let-off for Swifts when Gray dribbled away from aggressive midfielder Andy Hamilton and centred for Shallicker, but his sublime fourteen yard shot was amazingly tipped over the bar by Addis when a goal seemed certain.

Half Time: Dungannon Swifts 0 Huntly 1

McAree cannot have been overly happy with his team’s first half performance and made six changes to Huntly’s nil at the interval – and within three minutes they were back level.
McConkey released substitute Timothy Adamson wide on the right, and with Simon Scott uncharacteristically well out of position, the nippy wide man ran unchallenged into the box before coolly slotting through the legs of Bowman into the net having only just on the field.
Huntly nearly restored the lead in the 66th minute when a cut-back header from O’Driscoll nicely set up Levi Stephen, but his chip went narrowly over the bar.
But it was the home side who went front with fifteen minutes left. Johnson tried his luck from a tight angle which was cleared on the line by Scott only for Adamson to try an overhead kick which was cleared on the line by Scott Anderson. With the ball still not out of the danger zone, American striker Manuel Brazil drove the ball into top corner over the still packed Penalty area.
The game was now heating up and, after Levi Stephen had hobbled off with a knock, Matty Gairns was the victim of a horrendous tackle by Hamilton which did not go unnoticed by the referee.
Huntly’s performance did not merit defeat, and an equaliser came six minutes from time.
David Martin hesitated a clearance, allowing Gairns to toe-poke the ball into the empty box. Richard Stainer was the first to react, and thundered the ball past sub keeper Simon Ferguson from eight yards.