Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regulation football: The rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces:
The First Year Leinster Futsal Finals took place on Wednesday, 21st January in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght with 15 schools competing for the Leinster title in the boys section and 13 schools in the girls’ competition:
The girls grouping consisted of Loreto, Balbriggan and Riversdale Community College (Fingal), Mercy Secondary School, Goldenbridge (Dublin South Inner City), St: Michael’s (Dublin South), Ard Scoil na Trionede (Kildare), Loreto (Kilkenny City), Portlaoise College (Laois), Moyne Community College (Longford), St: Oliver’s Drogheda (Louth), Eureka Kells (Meath), St: Brendan’s Birr (Offaly), Colaiste an Atha and Colaiste Brid (Wexford) and Abbey Community College (Wicklow):
The girls were divided into three groups with Ard Scoil na Trionede kicking off against Colaiste an Atha in Group A: The Kildare outfit made little of this and had a comfortable 5/0 win to set them on their way: Ard Scoil continued the momentum and bet Loreto, Balbriggan 1/0 and then lost narrowly to an impressive Mercy Secondary School 3/2: Mercy went on to record a second victory after defeating Colaiste an Atha 2/0:
Loreto, Balbriggan were slow to start but showed great composure to defeat Colaiste an Atha 2/0: The final game in the group saw Mercy play out a 0/0 draw with Loreto Balbriggan, thus ensuring Balbriggan top spot in the group A table:
Group B was very competitive with Loreto Kilkenny serving up a 1/0 win against rivals St: Brendan’s of Offaly: The tables turned for both schools in their next fixture when St: Brendan’s recorded a 2/0 victory at the hands of Abbey Community College while Loreto Kilkenny went down 1/0 to Dublin side Riversdale:
Abbey Community College had two disappointing defeats to Riversdale, 4/0 followed by a spirited 3/1 defeat to Loreto, Kilkenny:
Riversdale Community College won all three fixtures, scoring nine goals, conceding none and topped group B:
The final grouping consisted of five schools ensuring that the players were well prepared for the later stages of the competition:
St: Michaels drew their first fixture with St: Oliver’s followed by defeats to Moyne Community College, Colaiste Brid and Eureka Kells:
Eureka Kells and Colaiste Brid found themselves level on points with 2 wins in their 4 games, one draw and one defeat: But powering home to claim number one on the league table was Moyne Community College with 10 points out of a possible 12:
The semi final pairings saw Eureka Kells qualify as best runners up versus Moyne Community College while Loreto Balbriggan played Riversdale Community College:
Both semi finals went to sudden death and penalties: Super entertainment for the packed spectators seated in the arena in Tallaght: The pressure was mounting for the players involved:
It was edge of the seat viewing as Moyne Community College and Riverdale Community College held their nerve to reach the final:
Only one more hurdle to pass until one of these teams were crowned Leinster Futsal Champions:
Like the group stages, the final did not disappoint with both schools eager to display their skills: Some great football was played but there could only be one winner and that came courtesy of Moyne Community College when they stepped up to slide past the Riversdale keeper with minutes remaining:
The boys section had a great geographical spread with teams from St Mary’s Academy CBS (Carlow), Castleknock College and Portmarnock Community School (Fingal Co: Co:), St: James (Dublin South Inner City), Knocklyon Community School (Dublin South), Beneavin De La Salle (Finglas), St: Paul’s Secondary School, Monasterevin (Kildare), Grennan College, Thomastown (Kilkenny), Portlaoise College (Laois), O’Fiaich College, Dundalk (Louth), Boyne Community School, Trim (Meath), St: Brendan’s Birr (Offaly), Wexford CBS and Arklow CBS (Wexford) and Dublin Oak (Wicklow):
The boys were divided into 3 groups of 5:
O’Fiaich College, Dundalk were the stars in group A winning all four games and conceding only once to Castleknock College in their opening encounter (2/1): Thus ensuring the maximum of 12 points and a place in the day’s semi final
In the same grouping, St: Mary’s Academy CBS drew one fixture 2/2 with Castleknock College while they won the following two at the expense of St: James, 4/3 and Arklow CBS 2/1: They hadn’t the speed to match top of the table side Dundalk to end their day on a high:
Group B saw Boyne Community School based in Trim suffer defeats to Portmarnock Community School 0/1, Dublin Oak 1/2 and St: Pauls, while drawing level with Knocklyon:
Portmarnock and Knocklyon went on to record two draws, one defeat and one victory making it a modest day for the Dublin schools:
John McShane’s Dublin Oak got off to a great start with a 3/0 win over Knocklyon while suffering at the hands of St: Paul’s 2/3: However the boys brushed themselves down and successfully overcame the advances of Boyne Community School 3/2 and drew 1/1 with Portmarnock:
St: Paul’s in Monasterevin were fortune to draw level twice with Portmarnock and Knocklyon while securing the points against Boyne and Dublin Oak to display 8 points at the top of group B:
The third grouping contained some prolific goal scorers with Beneavin College netting 11 times, while St: Brendan’s amassed 9 and both Grennan College and Wexford put 5 in the net:
Beveavin College defeated St: Brendan’s 2/1, Portlaoise College 5/0, Grennan College 4/1 and drew 0/0 with Wexford CBS in their final group stage appearance:
St: Brendan’s of Birr experienced a chill when they were defeated by the Finglas boys but got the blood flowing soon after with empathic victories over Portlaoise College 3/0 and Grennan College 5/0: The Offaly school picked up a single point when they drew level with Wexford CBS in their final game of the qualifiers:
Wexford CBS were placed second in group C with two wins and 2 draws while first place went to the stylish Beveavin College on 10 points:
The semi final was another great display of creativity, accuracy and pace which the boys had an abundance of throughout the day:
St: Paul’s defeated Finglas giants Beveavin 2/1 while Wexford CBS overcame competition favourites O’Fiaich College 1/0 in the semi final pairings:
The grand finale saw St: Paul’s Secondary School, Kildare take on the mighty Wexford CBS: The Model County lived up to their name and produced a cracking performance in the final game of the afternoon: The Kildare lads went close on a couple of occasions but it was Wexford CBS who slotted home the vital goals winning 3/0 on the day:
A special word of thanks to all the Leinster Development Officers who made the competition such a great success and to all the schools that participated in their respective county finals:
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