Meath Secondary Schools Futsal
The inaugural FAI Meath Schools Futsal competition continued on Thursday (6 Nov) and Friday (7 Nov) with the Secondary Schools section:
The Girls competition took place in Scoil Mhuire, Trim on Thursday and the Boys competition took place on Friday in the Boyne Community School, Trim:
The event was organized by FAI Meath Development Officer – Mark Scanlon:
Girls Section
The Girls tournament consisted of six schools – Scoil Mhuire (Trim), St: Peters College (Dunboyne), St: Olivers (Oldcastle), St: Josephs Mercy (Navan), Eureka Secondary School (Kells) and Beaufort College (Navan) and for a lot of the girls it was the first time they participating in a structured soccer event:
Two schools (Scoil Mhuire and St: Peters) had two teams and the competition consisted of 2 groups of 4 teams:
Group A was won by Eureka and Scoil Mhuire finished runner/up as both schools advanced to the semi/finals, Beaufort and St: Peters 2nds went through to the playoffs:
Group B was won by St: Josephs Mercy who were joined in the semi/finals by St: Oliver’s who finished in 2nd place:
St: Peters and Scoil Mhuire 2nds qualified for the playoffs:
St: Peters 2nds won the 7th/8th place playoff 3/2 against Scoil Mhuire 2nds and the 5th/6th place playoff was won by Beaufort who beat St: Peters 3/1:
The semi/finals saw Eureka defeat St: Oliver’s by 6/2 and St: Joseph’s Mercy overcame Scoil Mhuire by 2/1 on penalties:
The final was an exciting affair and Eureka took a 2 goal lead before St: Josephs Mercy pulled a goal back to ensure a tense finale but Eureka held on to claim the title of Meath Champions and the opportunity to represent their county in the Leinster finals:
Winners / Eureka Secondary School pictured with their coach Fr: David Brennan and FAI Development Officers Mark Scanlon and Mick Neville
Runners Up: St: Joseph's Mercy
Boys Section
The Boys tournament was hit with some late withdrawals but that certainly didn’t affect the excitement and quality of the event:
Four schools each brought 2 teams who were again divided into two groups of four:
The competing schools were – Beaufort College (Navan), St: Oliver’s (Oldcastle), Boyne Community School (Trim) and St: Peters College (Dunboyne):
After the group stages were completed Boyne 2nds defeated Beaufort 2nds 7/0 in the 7th/8th place playoff and Oldcastle 2nds grabbed 5th place with a 2/1 win over Dunboyne 2nds in the 5th/6th place playoff:
Beaufort put up a superb display in the first semi/final and overcame St: Peters by 4/1:
In the second semi/final Boyne C:S: scored a 5/1 victory over St: Oliver’s:
The final began very evenly and both teams had chances before Boyne scored 3 goals inside 2 minutes to take a commanding lead:
In the closing stages Boyne scored a 4th and Beaufort hit back with a late consolation but the game finished 4/1 and Boyne C:S: were crowned Meath Champions and will join Eureka Girls in the Leinster finals next February:
Winners – Boyne C:S: pictured with their teacher Mr: Byran Barry
Runners Up: Beaufort College
Overview
All in all the four day competition saw a total of 68 games and over 200 goals scored across 3 venues:
FAI Meath Development Officer Mark Scanlon stated,
“ the tournament has been a tremendous success and to see so many schools both Primary and Secondary taking part shows that there is a great future for Futsal in the county:
I want to say a special thank you to all the boys and girls who competed and their schools and teachers for their co/operation over the past few weeks:
I also want to thank Trim GAA, Scoil Mhuire and Boyne Community School for providing the venues for the tournament:
Hopefully next year the event can grow even bigger and more schools will be given the chance to compete:
Lastly I would like to wish the best of luck to St: Mary’s - Trim (Girls Primary Winners), O’Growney N:S: - Athboy (Boys Primary Winners), Eureka Secondary School - Kells (Girls Secondary Winners) and Boyne Community School – Trim (Boys Secondary Winners) in the Leinster finals”:
For more information on the FAI’s Futsal Programmes please visit - www:futsal:fai:ie:
