{"id":364,"date":"2019-06-04T19:17:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T18:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/?p=364"},"modified":"2019-06-04T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T20:42:11","slug":"we-are-the-champions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/2019\/06\/04\/we-are-the-champions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are the Champions!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As three of Notre Dame\u2019s high-flying football teams take to turf for Finals Day, here\u2019s a round-up of the action from Sports Writer, Ryan Campbell \u2013 reporting live from Parklea Playing Fields, Port Glasgow \u2013 Friday 31st<\/sup> May, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s outstanding under-14s boys\u2019 football team stormed to yet another victory and successfully defended their Paisley & District League title on Friday.<\/p>\n

The boys treated the gathered crowds to some fantastic football at Parklea Playing Fields and emerged victorious after defeating Williamwood High School, from Clarkston, 1-0 in the dying minutes of the tantalising final.<\/p>\n

All credit to Williamwood\u2019s goalkeeper whose poised performance kept Notre Dame off the score sheet for much of the hard-fought fixture.<\/p>\n

There were chances galore for Notre Dame, who seemed to be itching to score the entire game, but left it just 3 minutes before the final whistle to settle to game \u2013 and league \u2013 for good.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHeads down after St Mirin Cup defeat\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack on form against Williamwood \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack on form against Williamwood \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWinners’ medals\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChampions!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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A Cian Hughes free kick found the head of striker Aiden Gilmartin, who played impressive, eye-catching football throughout and thoroughly deserved his goal when it finally arrived.<\/p>\n

A buzzing Aiden spoke to Notre Dame Now<\/em> after the game and the St Mirren pro-youth player described his winning header as his \u201cfavourite goal of the season\u201d.<\/p>\n

The victory was particularly sweet as it comes just a fortnight after the boys crushing 4-2 defeat to St Ninian\u2019s, from Giffnock, in the St Mirin Cup Final.<\/p>\n

Building on their S1 triumphs, the boys started and ended the season champions in what has been another incredibly successfully season for the close-knit squad, coached by Mr Armour and Mr Galloway.<\/p>\n

They kicked off Friday\u2019s final without their captain Zak Crombie, who suffered an injury in the semi-finals, but whose voice was with them throughout as he passionately encouraged his team from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Standing in to lead the boys on this important occasion was teammate Andy Hunter who took the\u00a0captain’s armband and helped to maintain a composed performance from the skilful young team that allowed their talent and teamwork to sparkle.<\/p>\n

Speaking just after the game, an elated Mr Armour commented: \u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted. They thoroughly deserve the win today and the league victory after what\u2019s been another great season.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Senior Sorrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s Senior Boys\u2019 football team were also defending a title at Parklea as they lined up against a formidable side from St Andrew’s Academy, Paisley, in the St Mirin Cup Final.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the sheer strength of the St Andrew’s side stood in the Notre Dame boys\u2019 way of cup glory on this occasion and the experienced team, who\u2019ve enjoyed a successful season under the leadership of coach Mr O\u2019Donnell, tasted defeat.<\/p>\n

The first chance fell for St Andrew\u2019s very early in the first half and they immediately capitalised, firing it home to open the scoring at 0-1.<\/p>\n

The St Andrew\u2019s goal-scorer soon picked up his second goal to make 0-2, before a through ball split the Notre Dame defence open and St Andrew\u2019s made it 0-3.<\/p>\n

A quick flurry of attacks meant Notre Dame had a mountain to climb to try and get back in the game. From a corner, the ball bounced to Josh Cooper who hit a stunning half volley off the bar.<\/p>\n

Soon after, the referee awarded a penalty, only for Notre Dame keeper Kieran Dougan to save it, before the whistle sounded for half time.<\/p>\n

Perhaps buoyed on by their keeper\u2019s heroics, Notre Dame looked much more positive in the second half but the ball just wouldn’t fall to the attackers.<\/p>\n

Following a serious spell of Notre Dame pressure, St Andrew\u2019s hit the post before pouching on the rebound to make it 0-4.<\/p>\n

The visitors from Paisley even had time to add a fifth and sixth goal, proving simply clinical on the day and resulting in what was a harsh 0-6 scoreline in the end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under-13s Final ends in 10-goal Thriller<\/strong><\/p>\n

Triumphant from their 3-2 win over Gleniffer in the semi-final, Notre Dame\u2019s under 13 boys booked their place in the final at Parklea against Williamwood High School, from Clarkston.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame started the game well but minor errors meant that they found themselves 0-3 down. The S1 boys battled admirably in an Istanbul-inspired comeback to make it 3-3, but Williamwood proved clinical and the game finished 6-4 to the East Renfrewshire side.<\/p>\n

Although Notre Dame started the game well the first goal-scoring opportunity fell the way of Williamwood who cleared Notre Dame\u2019s defence and hit it near post to make it 0-1. Again Williamwood enjoyed the break of the ball before they made a driving run into the box and nutmegged the goalkeeper to make it 0-2.<\/p>\n

After their opponents bagged a third goal, Notre Dame appeared to spark a comeback after winning a crucial free kick. Jamie Bradley\u2019s ball, delivered high and dangerous, found the head of a Williamwood player who brought the score to 1-3 with an own goal.<\/p>\n

Just before half-time Notre Dame piled on the pressure as Shay Rodgers placed a low cross into Jamie Bradley, who scored a beautiful bicycle kick to make it 2-3 and sway the momentum in Notre Dame\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame started the second half as they ended the first: piling on the pressure. When a free kick was saved by the visiting goalkeeper, it fell to Reece Morris who tapped it home to level the scoring at 3-3.<\/p>\n

However, Williamwood attackers certainly brought their shooting boots along to Parklea where their fourth and the game\u2019s seventh goal made it 3-4.<\/p>\n

Roan McDermid was unlucky as he got a hand to a ball that had been deflected over, to make 3-5. Soon the visitors added another to make it 3-6 and, in the final minutes of the final, Jamie Bradley fired a bullet high into the net to make it 4-6. Williamwood held out to win 4-6 in the end.<\/p>\n

After the match, under-13s coaches, Mr Tyley, Mr Currie and Mr Skelton applauded their team\u2019s effort to come from 3 goals down to put serious pressure on Williamwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey couldn\u2019t have worked any harder,\u201d said Mr Tyley. Mr Currie added, \u201cThey\u2019ve done themselves proud. Well done boys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As three of Notre Dame\u2019s high-flying football teams take to turf for Finals Day, here\u2019s a round-up of the action from Sports Writer, Ryan Campbell \u2013 reporting live from Parklea Playing Fields, Port Glasgow \u2013 Friday 31st May, 2019. Notre Dame\u2019s outstanding under-14s boys\u2019 football team stormed to yet another victory and successfully defended their …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9223,"featured_media":367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ndsport","category-school-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/public\/notredamenow\/uploads\/sites\/6789\/2019\/06\/04190709\/u14-champs4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/in\/notredamenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}