Boys 5-A-Side Tournament

Match Reports

By Reilly and Conor

On Monday April 13th the boys from 5th and 6th participated in a 5 aside tournament in Stella Maris’ Dublin Port stadium.The team left the school at 8:50am, and arrived at the pitch at 9:30. Our first match was at 10:30am so the boys had time to warm up. Our first match was against North Dublin Muslim NS. The score of the game was 6-0 to St. Patrick's National School. The goals were scored by Reilly (3), George (2) and Darragh. The defence, including Cúan Downey in goal, kept a clean sheet.

Our next game was against Presentation Primary Warrenmount. We won 5-0. The goals were scored by Reilly Saul (4) and Andrei Bercu. A strong defence including Andrei and Conor kept another clean sheet. The next match was against St Joseph's NS, where we won 2-0 with both goals scored by George. Hard work closing down in the midfield by Seamus and Cadel helped give us another clean sheet.

Our last match was against St Joseph’s co-ed. This match would decide who would go to play Francis Street school in the semi final. The boys sadly lost to a very strong team 5-1. The consolation goal was scored by George. Even though we didn’t win, the boys played very, very well and represented the school brilliantly. They had fun, and a big thank you to our coach/teacher Mr McEntee, and Reilly’s mam for the lift.

5 A Side DOUBLE History

Max - Adrian - Zimo - Oisin - Matthew - Deon - Tom - Stefan

Tess - Hannah - Mabel - Yazmin - Emily Doyle - Indie - Fatima - Emily Bennett

"We can always say that under the shadow of the home of Irish soccer, The Aviva Stadium, St Patrick's Chapelizod took the lead in the Dublin 5 A Side final against the reigning champions!!"

It was two huge days of celebration for our 5 a side teams who travelled out to Irishtown Stadium beside the Aviva on Tuesday March 12th and Wednesday March 13th. The school has competed in the FAI Tournament annually for a long time and our success has usually been in our competitiveness against the bigger schools and giving it our all. This year, we broke all our school records in one day!

Our boys group on Pitch 1 saw us up against some of the strongest teams in the competition

Mary Queen of Angels (our Ballyfermot neighbours!!)
St Kevin's Boys NS, Sallynoggin
St Malachy's Boys NS, Finglas
Broombridge Ed Together
St Joseph's Fairview

Our girls group was reshuffled before kick-off meaning we faced teams from different groups originally including Mary Queen of Angels in Ballyfermot!

Incredibly, the boys won ALL FIVE of their group games and made it to the knockouts! The drama continued as they won the semi-final on penalties before reaching the decider for the first time ever!!!

Sadly, the reigning champions Christ The King NS Cabra (who beat us in 11-a-side the previous week!) took the title after a fine comeback - we had taken the lead with a sensational goal from Stefan (his 9th of the day)

All 16 of the pupils played their parts. Max in goals with some amazing saves, Oisin, Adrian, Zimo at the back, Deon and Matthew in the middle and Tom and Stefan up top. Although we didn't win the final, it really did not matter. It was a day to remember for our small school against the big guns of Dublin soccer! For the girls, Tess was our top scorer on the day, Yazmin will always have the memory of scoring from her own half with the first touch of the tournament, Emily and Indie operated the back line well, Mabel was our playmaker, Fatima worked hard in goals and outfield, Hannah was also both outfield and in goals at times, while Emily B is officially our youngest ever player in 5 a side (being in 3rd class!)

The girls were a SINGLE GOAL away from the semi-finals which was incredible and but for an unfortunate moment in one game it could have been even more amazing than it already was!

The teamwork, dedication and encouragment shown by all was immense! We could not be prouder of the boys and girls!

A huge thanks also to Michal, Enda, and Séamus who gave lifts out and back through the traffic (and provided some food and drink also!!)

League Campaign

Our FAI Schools league campaign saw the school set out with the main aim of giving game time to as many pupils as possible. During the 4 league games (along with the 5 a side) we will have a record 64 PUPILS who have donned the maroon and blue for the school. This is incredible. We also want to express our gratitude and say a huge thank you to Cathy and all in St Seton's SS in Ballyfermot who give us the use of their pitch and facilities and to the TY Students who help out on game days too! We can't say thank you enough!

Photos

A huge thank you to Zimos mum who took these amazing photos of the game the last day in St Seton's SS

Europa League Tour Blitz

Following our impressive attitude at the last 5 a side tournament, the Dublin City Council invited us along to a special one-off tournament back in the same venue. This time, with the added incentive of being able to see the prestigous Europa League trophy!! The EL Final takes place in the Aviva in a few weeks and we were thrilled that we were invited to this by DCC / FAI / UEFA.

We played 6 games. Won 4. Drew 2. No goals conceded. Met Darren Frehill (Virgin Media Soccer Presenter), Lord Mayor and former pupil Dáithi De Róiste, World Freestyler Conor Reynolds, and a new friend called the UEFA Europa League trophy!