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Bosco Under 14's have won the Division 3 League Final following a playoff.
Last Monday saw the Bosco U14 boys travel to An Riocht to take on Longstone. After an excellent league run both these teams ended on 20 points after 12 games and a playoff was required to seal victory.
There was a tense atmosphere before the game with the boys keen to get started, and after pre-match formalities including Amhrán na bhFiann Bosco won the toss.
Bosco started brightly with Micheal Dillon winning the throw in and slotting over an excellent point after just 2 minutes. It was evident that the boys were jittery but despite this managed to rack up two more points to no reply, Toby Woods and Martin Keenan the shooters.
Things were to take a twist though. They say that every ground has a scoring end and it wasn’t long before Longstone had it figured out. After 15 minutes they had pasted the ball into the Bosco net and a purple patch ensued.
Bosco were on the ropes and despite the defence holding up well, it was in truth Longstone’s poor shooting that kept the deficit manageable. The conditions were very poor under foot with water pooling in places but even so Bosco were guilty of numerous silly and unenforced errors. Possession was critical and despite instruction from the side-line these errors persisted. Nonetheless the large Bosco support who had travelled from Newry never gave up and shouted encouragement at the yellow ‘n blue at every opportunity.
At half time Bosco looked like a spent force and Longstone seemingly had them on the ropes on a score of 1:2 to 4 points. But whatever was said at half time the Bosco lads came out far stronger, more settled and physical in the second half.
Some of this physicality was interpreted as infractions by the referee and on 6 occasions resulted in yellow cards. The difficult conditions didn’t help but there is no doubt that some of these were justified.
The turning point in this contest came in the second half off the boot of super-sub James Harkin who chipped the ball into the net from distance and Bosco smelt blood. Their tails were up and points and scores flowed with Toby Woods netting a second goal and leaving the score at this stage 2:8 to 1:2 favouring Bosco.
Events took a turn with the dismissal of Martin Keenan for a second yellow but despite this the remaining 14 were not to be rolled over. The Longstone boys fought hard and goalie Kane Rossiter was called on to pull the ‘bacon out of the fire’ on several occasions, most memorably when he deflected a Longstone pile-driver over the bar.
Ciaran Byrne, assisted by Kevin Boyle and Sé Irwin, led a resolute defence with all 6 defenders putting in sterling and brave performance managing to take the big hits and come out of defence time after time. Toby Woods and Darren McCabe deserve special mention for their tenacity and work-rate up front but in truth this was a real team performance throughout. The final nail in the coffin came in the 29th minute when Devin Quigley managed to evade a blanket defence and blast the top corner of the Longstone net.
At the final whistle there were scenes of great jubilation among both players and supporters at the end of a long campaign. This win is the result of tremendous commitment by both players and coaches who have been putting in the hard yards since the long winter nights.
Credit needs to go to Raymond Jackson, Kenny Carnegie, Peter Rossiter and John Quinn for their faith and commitment to these lads. Roll on the Championship!
Final score St. John Bosco 3:9 Longstone 1:3
Seniors
Ardglass 2-9 Naomh Eoin Bosco 3-13
After a home defeat to Drumgath on Friday 6th July the seniors hit the road again with an away fixture in Ardglass on Monday 9th and after an excellent performance they returned to Newry with 2 points which keeps them in touch with the leaders at the top of the table. There is now a 2 week break in fixtures which gives management a chance to do some work with the players in preparation for the championship in 4 weeks time. The league fixtures begin again on Wednesday 25th July with a home game against Saul in Jack Mackin Park at 7.30. Saul are currently third in the table so this is a fixture we need to win to keep the push to the top table going. The team has 7 league games left, 6 at home and one away (Glenn) so supporters will have plenty of opportunity to give the players all the encouragement they need as they try to win the league.
U10s
St John Bosco vs Shane O’Neill’s Sunday 15th July
With most of the U10s back from holidays there was a large squad of 22 players for the St John Bosco U10s on Sunday morning in St Patrick’s P.S. to take on Shane O’Neill’s.
With such strong squad mentors Kevin Hughes and David McNulty had their work cut out for them ensuring that all the players got game time in the royal and amber. Playing three periods of 15 minutes with 15 a side and a final two games of 15 minutes with 10 a side ensured that everybody had plenty of playing time.
Best for Bosco in a morning’s fantastic football were Joshua Madigan, Calum McNulty, Nathan Gribben, Padraig Gallagher, Ciaran McAlinden and Ethan McGibbon. Score of the game came from David McCreesh who after blocking a Shane’s clearance latched onto the ball and from out on the right rifled the ball into the top corner of the net.
U10s, U8s and U6s Mid-Week Training
Mid week training for the summer months for the U10s, U8s and U6s in St Colman’s College continues on Wednesday nights 11th July at 7:00 p.m.
Film Nights
Film nights for the youngsters every Monday throughout the summer at 7:00 p.m. in the Cusack Lounge
