PHOTOS: Super St. Joseph's Boys crowned NI Cup champions on historic day

St Joseph’s Boys’ School 2, Dungannon Int. College 0

Torin McGlynn hit a brilliant first half brace as St. Joseph’s Boys School won a hard-fought N.I. Schools’ U18 Cup final at the Danny Blanchflower Stadium on Thursday to claim the prestigious Danske Bank trophy for the first time in the school’s history.

McGlynn’s brace saw the Derry side shade the early stages as both midfields tussled for possession with St. Joseph’s Shane Moran, Callum Deery and Caoimhin Green coming out tops in most of battles.

The Derry school had brought bus loads of supporters and they didn’t have to wait long before the cheering started McGlynn’s opening goal arrived in the ninth minute. A break on the right by winger Jake Martin, forcing his way past two players before squaring the ball for the inrushing McGlynn who managed to squeeze a low shot past a helpless keeper from 12 yards.

The St. Joseph’s defence, marshalled by captain Ciaran Mullan and Lennon Hamill, dealt admirably with anything Dungannon fired at them and netminder Dave Stewart had little to deal with in the first half. In fact, the only real first half danger from the Dungannon school came in the 23rd minute when a short back pass saw Stewart scurry from his goals to clear the ball to safety just ahead of the closing striker’s boot.

The Derry school’s second goal came on 32 minutes and again it was McGlynn who was on hand to smash the ball home with a sublime effort from outside the penalty box. A break on the right and a low cross was met by McGlynn who raced past his marker before curling a superb effort into the top corner of the net.

For the remainder of the first period the Derry side remained on top and limited any further chances from Dungannon.

Dungannon came out all guns blazing in the second half but the best chance of the early stages fell to St. Joseph’s. An in-swinging free kick from 35 yards was headed on but goalkeeper O’Reilly punched over the upright to safety.

St. Joseph’s keeper Stewart was now the busier of the two keepers as Dungannon pushed forward for a score. On 72 minutes, a Dungannon free kick from the right side saw the towering centre back Denis Hudak climb highest to power his header goalwards only for the alert Stewart to palm the ball over the crossbar.

Again, from the resulting corner, another header was well saved by the St. Joseph’s keeper with defender Jack McLaughlin managing to somehow clear the rebound off the line. Stewart continued to show his true class through a late spell of Dungannon pressure.

Both sides made a number of substitutes as the heat of the day took its toll and this unsettled the St. Joseph’s side most of all. In the dying minutes, a break through the centre by the Dungannon striker, saw his goalbound shot parried wide for a corner from the boot of Stewart, and the keeper took the pressure off with another fine save from the resultant corner.

At the final whistle in a sun-kissed Blanchflower Stadium, it was the green of St. Joseph’s Boys who celebrated a well-earned but deserved victory with captain Ciaran Mullan, on his 18th birthday, lifting the trophy aloft to secure the school’s first ever NI U18 Schools Cup.

A great all round team performance with substitutes also playing their part. Of special mention for St. Joseph’s was keeper Stewart, centre backs Mullan and Hamill, midfielder Green, and of course, goalscorer McGlynn.

St. Joseph’s Boys School: Dave Stewart, Ruairi Tinney, Ciaran Mullan, Lennon Hamill, Caoimhin Green, Shane Moran, Callum Deery, Jack McLaughlin, Jake Martin, Torin McGlynn, Tommie McLaughlin, Caden Wade, Kyle Nixon, Sean Harkin, Martin Moran and Jacob Cregan.

Integrated College Dungannon: Callum O’Reilly, Ben Ellison, Ethan Topley, Denis Hudak, Joshua Burton, Troy Lucas, Damian Traczykowski, Joel McAdam, Callum Hunter, Kyle McBrien, James Burke, Justin