Rathfriland High School have recently become the first school in Northern Ireland to win the prestigious title of Under 15 Football Small Schools Cup winners for a second time after beating Newtownabbey High School in a penalty shoot out on Wednesday afternoon. Since the competition began back in 2009, which was specifically designed to encourage those smaller schools across the country to compete against other schools of similar size, the school has always produced teams capable of reaching the knock out tournament both at Under 13 and Under 15 levels.
On Wednesday 30th April the team travelled to the Ballymena Showgrounds to take part in one of 11 School Football Finals that were going on that day. These ranged from as young as Under 12 right up to Under 18 age level and included both grammar and secondary Schools across the province.
The Under 15 Small Schools Cup Final against Newtownabbey High School was always going to be competitive and a closely fought contest as it was a repeat of the final back in 2009 when Rathfriland, on that occasion, took home the spoils. For the first 20 minutes of the match Newtownabbey controlled and dictated the play, producing football of a very high standard which was rewarded with a fine goal midway through the first half. After that point the Rathfriland players seemed to shake themselves down, take stock of the situation that they found themselves in and started to put a number of passes together to play in the manner which they were accustomed to during the season against other schools. As a result, although the score remained the same at half time, Rathfriland now had the bit between their teeth and came back very strong throughout the second half, pressing forward on a number of occasions and going close to scoring the equaliser.
Towards the end of the second half, when Rathfriland had started to dominate possession, a free kick was awarded just outside the opposition’s box. Player of the match and captain of the Rathfriland team, Joel Copes, lined up the ball ready to be struck. With the home supporters lined around the side of the pitch willing him on, Joel curled the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal. Deservedly, the team had equalised and could now capitalise on the obvious frustration felt by the opposition. Although the final whistle was blown soon after, the Rathfriland players knew that the wind had been taken out of the Newtownabbey players’ sail and that out of the two teams Rathfriland now looked the stronger.
With extra time now in full swing players on both sides knew that any mistake made could cost dearly. The standard of football continued to be of a high quality and the Rathfriland goalkeeper, Lee Patterson, in particular made a number of important saves. With only a minute of the allotted time left in the first half of extra time, Newtownabbey scored a second goal and were buoyed at the realisation that this could have been the winner. Rathfriland had other ideas however and when, during the remaining minutes of the second extra period, it looked like it was all over, a hand ball in the penalty box gave the Rathfriland players a last ditch opportunity to equalise once again and send the game into a penalty shoot out. Captain Joel Copes was again given the responsibility of taking the penalty and with relative ease, despite the pressure he must have been feeling, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to the rapturous applause of the supporters and those neutral spectators wishing to watch the climax of a penalty shoot out unfold.
With nerves frayed and finger nails bitten back to the skin, the concluding penalty shoot out produced the usual excitement of near misses, great saves and cool finishes. With the score at 1-1 Lee Patterson pulled off the save of the match when he somehow deflected the ball up and over the crossbar when it was going into the top right hand corner of the net. This put the pressure on the Newtownabbey players and inevitably when their final chance to save the situation by scoring was once again saved the Rathfriland team celebrated the victory in true shoot out fashion by mobbing the home goalkeeper!
Rathfriland were deserving of their victory. Whilst the opposition became somewhat complacent in the first half, the Rathfriland players worked very hard to get back into the game and realised the Newtownabbey side were vulnerable without possession. This, coupled with a lack of self discipline by some of the opposition players, allowed a window of opportunity for the Rathfriland players which they took and used to their full advantage.
The school and PE Department, in particular, would like to thank all of the pupils, teachers and parents, who travelled up to Ballymena to add their support during the match and who played such an important role in motivating the team to victory. Special thanks also go to the Bronte family of Rathfriland Football Club who kindly donated the match ball for the final.
