Craanford & Pope John Paul crowned Leinster Futsal Champs

Craanford win on penalties while Pope John Paul blitz in winning performance

The lights came down on a very successful primary schools competition as the Leinster Futsal Finals were decided at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght today (Tuesday, 10 February):

The competition catered for boys and girls in third and fourth class which delivered a quality fast paced action packed game focusing on skill, speed and technique:

The thirty two winners, 16 girls and 16 boys were divided into four groups of four with group winners progressing to the semi final stages: Each county winner was there on merit having tasted victory in their county finals in early January:

The boys grouping consisted of Bishop Foley NS (Carlow), Pope John Paul NS (Malahide), Scoil Mhuire (Tallaght), Our Lady of Wayside (Bluebell), St: Laurence O’Toole’s (Sherriff Street), Maynooth BNS (Kildare), Slieverue NS (Kilkenny), Our Lady’s Meadow (Laois), Ballinalee NS (Longford), St Malachy’s NS (Dundalk), O’Growney’s NS (Athboy), Edenderry BNS (Offaly), St: Coleman’s NS A & B teams (Mullingar), St: Joseph’s NS (Gorey) and Aravon NS (Enniskerry):

The girls schools had a wide geographical spread with Rathvilly NS (Carlow), Rush NS (Dublin), Inchicore NS (Inchicore), Our Lady of Wayside (Bluebell), Scoil Mohbi (Glasnevin), SN Chiaran Naofa (Kilkenny), Our Lady’s Meadow (Durrow), Ballinalee NS (Longford), St Joseph’s NS (Dundalk), St Mary’s NS (Trim), Mucklagh NS (Offaly), St: Coleman’s NS (Mullingar), Castlepollard NS (Mullingar), Craanford NS (Wexford) and Newtownmountkennedy NS (Wicklow):

The morning kicked off with the Boys Group A pairings of St Laurence O’Toole kicking off against Our Lady’s Meadow of Durrow: Both schools had a nervous start with them playing some defensive football:  The Dublin side progressed with the points after scoring the only goal of the game early in the second half:

St Joseph’s of Gorey had their sharp shooters on form as they put 4 past Ballinlee with an impressive 4/1 victory in their opening encounter:

St Laurence O’Toole’s had further victories over St: Josephs (1/0) and Ballinlee (2/0) while Our Lady’s Meadow drew 0/0 against St: Josephs and shocked Ballinlee with a skilful 3/0 win:

The second grouping was a much closer affair with St Coleman’s scraping past Maynooth 4/3 while Pope John Paul drew 1/1 against rivals Edenderry:

The players found their way when Pope John Paul hit 5 goals in a thrilling match with St: Coleman’s of Mullingar:

Group B saw Pope John Paul and Edenderry NS top the table with 7 points each with two victories and a draw: Unfortunately, only one place was up for grabs and the Malahide school progressed to the semi finals on goal difference:

Kilkenny Champions Slieverue progressed from Group C with wins over Scoil Mhuire, Ballyboden (3/1) and St: Malachys, Dundalk (1/0) followed by a 0/0 draw against Bishop Foley of Carlow:

Group D had a mix of schools comprising of O’Growney NS, Athboy, Our Lady of Wayside, Bluebell, Enniskerry and and St: Coleman’s B team of Mullingar:

The Athboy School displayed a good team performance with two victories over local rivals St: Coleman’s of Mullingar (3/0) and Our Lady of Wayside on the same score/line having drawn 0/0 in the opening match with Enniskerry:

The first semi final drew St: Laurence O’Toole’s (Sheriff St:) and Slieverue (Kilkenny): The Dubliners demonstrated the finer skills of futsal with some great ball control and creativity leading them to the final with a 5/0 win against the Cats:

The second of the afternoons semi finals placed Pope John Paul of Malahide against O’Growney’s of Athboy: The Meath School were under pressure early on and a goal was conceded within five minutes: The Malahide side made sure of the win when they scored again in the second half leaving it a 2/0 win to the Dubs:

The final was contested by two Dublin teams, namely St: Laurence O’Toole of Sherriff Street and Pope John Paul of Malahide:

The game ebbed and flowed with some good opportunities missed by St: Laurence early on:

Sherriff Street were slightly fatigued as Malahide’s fitness began to show:

Pope John Paul broke the deadlock in the first half with a bullet of a shot past the St: Laurence keeper leaving him with no chance:

The Malahide side went two up in quick concession leaving St Laurence with a mountain to climb with minutes remaining:

Unfortunately the inner city side couldn’t break the Malahide defence and had to settle for second as Pope John Paul were crowned Leinster winners:

The girls competition had four clear group leaders with St: Joseph’s of Dundalk winning Group A, Our Lady of Wayside (Bluebell) securing Group B, Craanford of Wexford topping Group C and St Coleman’s of Mullingar completing Group D:

Other results in group A saw Scoil Bhrid of Naas winning two matches against Rush NS (2/0) and a close encounter with Ballinalee winning narrowly 1/0:

Newtownmountkennedy were unfortunate not to progress further as they shared 7 points with group B winners Our Lady of Wayside, only to lose out on goal difference: The girls should be very proud with their performance with victory over Castlepollard NS and Rathvilly NS 1/0 and drawing level with the group winners 1/1:

Craanford NS showed great skill and awareness as they won all four group games with plenty of scoring ability having notched up ten goals only to concede once to Our Lady Meadows in their second fixture of the day:

The last grouping produced three draws in the preliminary stages with St: Kevin’s of Kilnamanagh and St: Mary’s of Trim settling for one goal apiece as did St: Coleman’s of Mullingar and Mucklagh of Offaly:  While Mucklagh and St: Mary’s drew 0/0: Mucklagh were the only other team in the group to taste success when they shot five past St: Kevin’s in their opening encounter of the day:

The semi final stages were very exciting with St: Joseph’s (Dundalk) playing Craanford NS (Wexford) and St: Coleman’s (Mullingar) against Our Lady of Wayside (Durrow):

The Model County lived up to it’s name with a comprehensive 2/0 victory over Louth’s St: Josephs outfit:

St: Coleman’s scored a hat/trick of goals to secure a place in the grand final at the expense of a talented Our Lady of Wayside team:

Craanford NS and St: Coleman’s was the match of the day with neither side able to produce the winner in normal time:

The game had to be decided on penalties with the Wexford school savouring a 3/2 win: Great credit must go to St: Coleman’s on a very entertaining match which could have went either way: