PSP, MOE, MCYS U-17 School’s F/Ball...St Mary’s, Queenstown advance to Quarter-Finals

PSP, MOE, MCYS U-17 School’s F/Ball…St Mary’s, Queenstown advance to Quarter-Finals

Dec 16, 2014 Sports

By Sean Devers
St Mary’s High School and St John’s College registered victories when the Premier Sports

Three Queenstown Sec players converge on a loose ball as a lone defender tries to protect his Goalkeeper Colin Bacchus from further torture.

Promotions, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport under-17 School’s Football tournament continued yesterday at Ministry of Education ground.
St Mary’s defeated Christ Church 3-1, while a second half goal feast by Queenstown Community High saw that team hammer St Jones College 6-1 to set up tomorrow’s Quarter Finals against Tutorial High and Lodge Secondary respectively. Today’s action will feature St George’s High coming up against Bishops High School and Saints Stanislaus College facing off with North Ruimveldt Multilateral in the first two Quarter Finals.
In the first match-up, again played in sultry conditions, Christ Church failed to spark in the first half which reduced to 30 minutes and finished the first stanza with a 1-nil score-line for Christ Church, thanks to the work of Lousdale George, who scored in the 19th minute from the penalty spot.
The pace picked up in the second half and Colin Denny latched on to a pass from Alyne Haynes from the left flank and leveled the score 1-1. Skillful right-winger Raphael Bollers confused the opponents with some fancy footwork but took too long to pass the ball or short and failed to register a goal despite his obvious talent.
Denny scored for the second time in the 56th minute before Andel Smith, on his 15th birthday, collected a pass from Akiel Forde and scored with a well executed shot to extend the lead to 3-1 in the

Colin Denny (left) & birthday boy Andel Smith

57th minute which was the score when the final whistle was blown.
In the second game, Nicolas McArthur opened the scoring for St John’s in the 14th minute when he intercepted a pass from the left side and hammered in a thunderous left footer which passed the Keeper Colin Bacchus in the blink of an eye. Omari Jones scored the equalizer and at that point St John’s looked the better side technically and enjoyed more possession. Queenstown Secondary’s Emmanuel Hacker missed a clear goal with only the Keeper to beat as the fast paced first half-ended at 1-1.
Fortunes changed dramatically in the second half as the live wire Kelse ‘Neymar’ Benjamin dribbled four players before calmly patting the ball nonchalantly past the helpless goalkeeper to make it 2-1 before repeating the feat three minutes later to register a brace.
Skipper Rudy Richmond exploited a defence which had become porous with two goals in the space of 12 minutes, while Anthony Dowdin also found the back of the nets to compound St John’s woes and cause their stand-in Coach to abandon his team before the game ended.
Today the quarter-finals are scheduled for 13:00hrs and 15:00hrs respectively. The semi-finals are set for Friday while the third place play-off and the Final are set for Sunday.
Coordinator of the tournament Mark Young informed that the Richard Ishmael Secondary School’s player who broke his hand during Friday’s game was taken to Georgetown Hospital but waited until 20:00hrs without being attended to. He was then taken at a Private Hospital where the bills for his