The New Year saw our under 17 boys team play a Leinster Junior Cup quarter final in early January, facing Gaelcholaiste na Mara from Arklow. Our opponents have a strong tradition in the cup competitions, having won National titles on more than one occasion in the past.
Our boys played very well in the first half and established a two goal lead. They faced an onslaught in the second half and whilst we conceded two goals, we added a further two ourselves to win 4-2, with goals from Riley Bocus, Theo Sendtner and Leonard Dal Santo Paulick.
The semi-final was a difficult encounter as we travelled to North Dublin to face O’Connells school, another steeped in history of success on the sporting fields. After the concession of an early penalty, the boys responded very well and equalised through Alex Collins from a corner. The second half saw us gain the upper hand and two goals from Leonard along with a single strike from Matthias Ruiz Montoya saw us gain victory by an identical scoreline after O’Connells added a second late in the game.
The final pitted us against Ard Scoil from Clara in Offaly, a team we had played two years previously in a semi final with the same group of players. On that occasion, they were victorious by a wide margin though we always felt that the scoreline had flattered them on that particular day.
The final was scheduled for February 10th in Kilcock Celtic’s grounds. After a strong start that saw us dominate the early stages of the game, we were rewarded with the opening goal when a Riley free kick deceived their keeper. This was the scoreline at half time and we continued to play well in the second half. This momentum saw us double the lead when good work on the left wing by Matthias resulted in him getting to the endline before playing across to Riley to add to his tally.
The team from Clara responded and our keeper, Nicholas O’Connell, had to be alert on two occasions to thwart their striker, making two good saves to frustrate their main threat. However, their pressure led to a mix-up in our defence and the deficit was halved when Clara took advantage. The boys didn’t panic and continued to carve out some good chances but it wasn’t until the final ten minutes that we increased our lead when Theo Sendtner received a good pass from Tom Hogan before calmly shooting to the bottom right hand corner of their goal. Our opponents didn’t stop their efforts to get back into the game and managed to score in the early stages of added time which gave our boys a difficult last few minutes but they held firm to lift the trophy and qualify for the All Ireland semi-final.
The All Ireland semi final was played three days after the Leinster success due to competition deadlines and saw us travel to Monaghan United’s ground to face Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, the Ulster champions. However, we were unfortunate in that the day coincided with a school trip and our team was considerably depleted, with further absentees through illness. Nonetheless, the team did exceptionally well and, deservedly, reached half time with the score at 1-1, with some good chances created by our youthful team.
Matthias had scored our first half goal after an excellent cross from Tom, following some good build up play. He added a second early in the second half, showing great composure to finish despite defensive pressure, after an excellent through ball by Maxim Afonin, who was deployed in midfield as opposed to his usual full back role. However, the fatigue factor of the game a few days prior began to show and we conceded three goals in a short period of time despite the best efforts of our ‘stand in’ keeper, Sebastian Hartas.
We introduced some fresh players in the latter stages of the game and these younger players added a new impetus to our play but we couldn’t deny our Donegal opponents from adding a fifth, though it augurs well for the future that those players didn’t look out of place in such a game.
Al Sugg
Soccer Coach at St. Kilian’s
