Daniel McCormack stands tall for Moore Creek against Port Saints

"I love scoring goals, I love football. The whole time I had a smile on my face," McCormack said.

The 18-year-old's zeal was more remarkable for the fact that his team, the Moore Creek Mountain Goats, had just succumbed to a 1-1 (4-2) defeat in their Australia Cup clash against the Port Saints when he spoke to the Leader today.

The moment his penalty shot soared into the back of the net and secured Moore Creek's only goal of regular time, McCormack just about jumped out of his skin.

That sort of relentless energy, he said, is a trademark.

"Unless I'm really tired, I don't like sitting down, doing nothing," McCormack said.

"I always want to be doing something, whether that's being outside, playing games, anything. I just don't want to sit at home."

Having left school early to commence a plastering apprenticeship, McCormack's liveliness has served him well since entering the world of full-time work.

And though he said there are days when he comes home worn down by hours of physical labour, he is never anything but eager for training.

"I go to training thinking 'Thank god I've got training'," McCormack said.

That attitude shone through on the field when the Penrith product, who moved to Tamworth at six years old, was the first to ask for the ball when Moore Creek was awarded a penalty shot.

Sitting 1-0 in arrears at that point, McCormack wanted to be the one to level the score.

"I was pretty confident the whole time," he said.

"I looked around and no-one seemed to want it, so I said 'I'll take it' ... once they said I would take it, I picked my spot at the bottom left.

"I closed my eyes and pictured myself scoring it, then opened my eyes and scored it."

From that point on, the Mountain Goats had the run of play and multiple opportunities on goal.

Though they couldn't quite convert, co-coach and goalkeeper Andy Cygan was thrilled with their effort.

"Dean [Hoy] and myself are incredibly proud of the way they dug in," Cygan said.

"We had plenty of chances to win the game. To go a goal down, it was a sloppy goal ... I feel a bit to blame with that.

"But to dig back in, we made some substitutions there and got the goal we deserved."

Penalty shootouts are "always a 50-50", Cygan said, and he self-deprecatingly added that the Saints benefited from "a better keeper".

Moore Creek are now out of the Australia Cup, and their next pre-season fixture will most likely take place next month. But it's safe to say McCormack is already itching for it to start.

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