Portadown College and Our Lady and St Patrick’s College Knock secured the trophies on schools’ cup finals day.
The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park hosted the U16 Girls Schools’ Cup decider between Portadown College and Kilkeel High School and the U18 Boys Schools’ Cup final between holders Integrated College Dungannon and Our Lady and St Patrick’s College Knock (Belfast).
Both competitions were organised by the Northern Ireland Schools’ Football Association (NISFA) with support from the Irish FA.
Portadown defeated Kilkeel 1-0 in the girls’ final, while OLSPCK got the better of ICD in the boys’ final by two goals to nil.
The only goal of the game in the girls’ game was scored by Leah Roney when she tucked home the rebound after Kilkeel keeper Zara Maguire had saved initially.
Maguire, the Kilkeel captain and a Northern Ireland WU17 international, was tested several times in the second half and arguably kept the score down as Portadown dominated for long spells.
The first half of the decider between Integrated College Dungannon and Our Lady and St Patrick’s College was a pretty even affair, and there were no goals in the first half despite both teams creating some decent chances.
The first goal came in the 49th minute when Ryan Campbell whipped the ball into the net after another effort was saved.
ICD pressed for an equaliser, and exerted plenty of pressure, but they could not find a way past the east Belfast school’s well-marshalled defence.
Just after the hour mark a cross into the box was met by Our Lady’s and St Patrick’s captain Oscar McKenna and he clipped the ball past the keeper to make it 2-0 – and that was how it finished.
