The World of Schools' Football

The 2018 Rod Houston Cup

Our Rod Houston round-up before the new ESFA International Season really kicks off for 2018

October marks the return of the Rod Houston Cup, a three day U14 girls’ Home Nations tournament held at Lilleshall National Sports Centre. The teams are mainly made up of the previous seasons U13 National Cup Champions’ from England (The English Schools’ FA), Wales (The Welsh Schools’ FA) and the Republic of Ireland (FAI Schools).

Meet the contenders:

Bohunt School Wokingham (England representative)

J8Bpt_ZA_400x400

St Ivo School (England representative)


d6wlfgfnpnu7soe4hgup_400x400.jpeg

Sacred Heart School Westport  (Republic of Ireland representative)

qX4kiiwU

Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg (Welsh representative)

wales

 

Match Day 1

A special thanks to our official photographer Garry Griffiths at ThreeFiveThree Photography  for capturing match day one of the SAFIB Rod Houston Cup in true detail!

Bohunt Wokingham School 6 – 0 St. Ivo School

In the opening game of the Rod Houston Cup it was Bohunt School Wokingham who claimed the victory with a impressive 6-0 win over a battling St Ivo School in a fierce wind at the National Sports Centre.

Bohunt took an early lead from a corner kick but, despite further pressure through the half, the teams went into the break with just one goal between them.

The second half saw Bohunt take a firm grip on the game with another goal straight from a corner kick, that the wind played a significant part in, and they netted four more goals later in the half to seal the win with hat-trick hero Freya leading the way along with a brace from Thomson and one for McKeever.  

ESFA_RHC_121018_001.jpg

Sacred Heart School Westport 2 – 0  Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg

In game two the conditions were no better with the players of both sides trying to keep the ball on the floor to limit the effect on the action and the Welsh side almost snatched an early lead from a set piece but the crossbar denied them an opening goal.

At the other end it was the side from the Republic of Ireland who took an early lead with a long range strike.Their Welsh opponents were by no means out of the game for much of the half although clear cut chances were at a premium in a tight match.

ESFA_RHC_121018_007.jpg

Shortly before the break the lead was doubled, once again we saw a corner kick affected by the strong winds and it somehow found its way into the corner of the net deceiving both the goalkeeper and defenders inside the six yard box.

The second half saw the game turn into a midfield tussle with neither side taking advantage of any chances that came their way and as the floodlights flickered into life it was Sacred Heart who saw the game out for the win in the Shropshire wind.

Match Day 2

Bohunt School Wokingham 1 – 0 Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg

Match day two kicks off with a closely contested game between the English and Welsh cup champions and in the tense game it was a super goal by Lennard that made the difference 10 minutes from full time.

St. Ivo School 0-4 Sacred Heart School

In the second match of the day, Sacred Heart School picked up where they left off the previous day, dominating the first half and scoring three goals to gain a well-deserved 3 – 0 at HT. The second half proved more more challenging for Sacred Heart School playing against a strengthening wind which wreaked havoc throughout the day. Despite the adverse weather, the republic of Ireland girls broke through the wind and their opponents to score another goal to make it 4 – 0 FT.

Goal scorers: O’Malley, Conway (2) and Moran

The Final Match Day

Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg 3 – 1 St. Ivo School  

In the first game of the day it seemed as if we were in for another tight affair as it came to half time with the score 0-0. However, the Welsh girls came out with some new found motivation, firing home three goals gaining a 3-0 lead. However St. Ivo School and Hiscock fired back from the penalty spot as the match finished 3-1.

Congratulations to Saffron of the Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg team. Saffron was announced winner of the Nigel Brown Award for most outstanding player of the tournament.  

Bohunt School Wokingham 2 – 1  Sacred Heart School

The final game of the entire tournament headlined our two remaining unbeaten teams in Bohunt School Wokingham and Sacred Heart School, both ready to battle it out lay claim SAFIB Rod Houston Cup title 2018.

DpdDICpXgAEBirx.jpeg

During the opening exchanges the English champions Bohunt, found themselves coming out the better against the Irish champions Sacred Heart. furthermore, Bohunt made all the early pressure count, capitalising on their chances and scoring twice. The goals coming from some efficient attacking play by McKeever and Thompson, leaving first half score at 2 – 0 to Bohunt.  

Nevertheless, the Sacred Heart girls were by no means out of the game and after re-organising themselves during the first half break, they came back out to the pitch all fired up. The Irish resilience was clear for all to see, especially when Moran smashed home a brilliant free kick to keep Sacred Heart School’s title hopes alive with 20 minutes left on the clock . After Moran’s free kick the game tension levels had been raised up a few notches with Sacred Heart trying to find a way in on goal, but the Bohunt girls remained defensively solid and managed to see the game out for a 2 – 1 victory!

BOHUNT SCHOOL WOKINGHAM – SAFIB Rod Houston Cup Champions 2018  

 

By ESFA Rob

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.