Or Poni spent the dying seconds of a playoff decider keeping Nahalal Yizrael in Israel's Premier League youth division back in the spring, curling home a stoppage-time free kick against Hapoel Haifa. Now, ONE reports, the attacking midfielder is leaving the club that made him for the bigger stage of Hapoel Hadera's Youth A squad.
The move stems from a shift up the age groups rather than any falling-out: Nahalal Yizrael's 2009-cohort team was relegated this year, and Poni, wanting to keep playing at the top level, has signed with Hadera for next season instead.
It caps a breakout campaign. Poni made 33 appearances for Nahalal Yizrael, starting 30 of them and playing the full 90 minutes in 22, finishing with ten goals and seven assists — numbers ONE describes as among the biggest rises of the season in the Youth A Premier League.
His signature moment came in the playoff decider that settled Nahalal Yizrael's fate. Facing Hapoel Haifa, promoted up from the National League, in a match played in Bat Yam, Nahalal Yizrael dominated for long stretches but couldn't turn chances into goals, then conceded a late equaliser. Poni settled it himself, scoring in the final minute for a 2-1 win that preserved the club's place in the top flight.
"I'm very excited about this transfer," Poni told ONE. "I found here a level of conduct I hadn't known before, a facility at the highest level in the north, an excellent team — with God's help we'll have a great season together. I'm hungry to do my maximum to have a bigger season than last year."
Poni is a product of the club he is now leaving. He joined Nahalal Yizrael's Under-12s three seasons ago under his father Shahar's guidance, having come up through the youth ranks at M.K. Neve Yosef Haifa and Maccabi Haifa's "Ktzaf" development group.
Looking back on a season he called full of "ups and downs," Poni told ONE that results were slow to arrive early on, but coach Idan Weitzman "didn't let us lower our heads for a moment." His own turning point came in round nine — a stoppage-time free kick in a defeat away to Hapoel Be'er Sheva, his first goal of the campaign. A first win followed in round ten, 3-0 over Kiryat Shmona, in which Poni scored and assisted, and Nahalal Yizrael went on a five-match winning run that carried them to 13th in the regular-season table.
Poni also pointed to the disruption of the ongoing war as a factor behind a difficult stretch before the playoffs — a strain that has run through Israeli football's lower and youth divisions for the past two seasons.
Asked what drew him to Hadera, Poni cited both the pull of staying in the Premier League and the practicalities of the move: "Hadera is a wonderful place for me, both in terms of convenience and in terms of the team, the facility and the management." He thanked his parents and Weitzman, "who invested extra hours working with me... so I could be my best version. Now it's time to work and prove myself."
Hadera's Youth A squad, who will be led next season by coach Osher Gal, is currently at a pre-season training camp in Nahariya as it prepares for the new Premier League campaign.
There's a family footnote to the move: Poni's father Shahar is also changing dugouts this summer, taking charge of Hapoel Nof Hagalil's Youth B team while stepping up as assistant coach with the senior side.
