JOE Roach hailed Cherries' Foyle Cup adventure an "excellent experience", despite seeing his young charges come up just short in their quest for silverware.

The Cherries head of youth saw his troops slip to a 1-0 reverse to Port Vale in the final of the under-18 competition in Ireland, as the clinical finishing they showed in their previous games deserted them when it mattered.

But although the defeat was hard to take after dominating the play against Vale, Roach maintained that the tournament had provided far more positives than negatives to build upon.

Roach told the Daily Echo: "The lads were extremely disappointed to lose the final, but some of the football we played was exhilarating.

"We lost Jordan Rose and Billy Franks to injury, who are important players for us. But even after that, we dominated the game, but just couldn't score.

"But overall I was really pleased with how the week went. The tournament organisation and hospitality was brilliant and the whole experience was excellent for our players and staff."

Roach also admitted that he was impressed by the improvement in some of the youngsters as they progress towards earning an opportunity with the first team.

He said: "If I'm honest, a few of the players surprised me with how well they did and if they were called upon for the first team, I have no doubt that they would not let anyone down.

"But it was a great opportunity to really get to know the lads for a period of time and they were an absolute credit to the club."