Courtesy: FAI Futsal Portal


Friday Night Futsal

Friday Night Futsal completed its second campaign in Claremont Stadium, Navan last Friday night. The league was organized FAI Development Officer Mark Scanlon and supported by Meath Local Sports Partnership, RAPID and Navan Community Gardai. The competition ran for 6 weeks prior to Christmas and 8 weeks from mid January to March 27th and catered for 16 – 21 year olds. Over 40 people took part in the 6 team league which took place from 9pm – 11pm each Friday night and was completely free of charge for participants.

The teams played 4 games each every night and the final week consisted of playoffs and the grand final. Townspark United finished in 5th place and The Super Eagles finished in 4th. 3rd place was taken by Trim Road Boys who performed excellently over the 8 weeks and were very unlucky not to make the final. The final between St. Columbans and Foreigners United was a much anticipated game and a large crowd was present to watch the drama unfold. The reigning champions Foreigners United raced into an early lead scoring 4 goals without reply in the opening 3 minutes but St. Columbans battled back and incredibly pulled the cores back to 4-4 at the break.

The second half started with Foreigners United retaking the lead but once again St. Columbans drew level as both sides showed tremendous skill and determination. As the game edged closer to full-time St. Columbans began to tire and Foreigners United took full advantage by scoring 5 quick fire goals to eventually run out 10-5 winners. The score line didn’t reflect the balance of play but it showed how quickly a game of Futsal can turn around and the standard of play was testament to how much the players improved playing this exciting form of the game.

The winners received tickets to crucial World Cup Qualifier between Ireland and Bulgaria the following the day and although the winners were from Lithuania and Poland they cheered on the Irish Boys with great enthusiasm the following day. FAI Development Officer Mark Scanlon was extremely happy with the continuing success of the programme “The players have put in a great deal of effort over the past few months and it’s great to see so many guys take part. I also want to say a big thank you Noel Walsh and Keith Walsh who refereed the games each week, to Mary Murphy (MLSP), Kevin Loughlin (RAPID) and Charlie McNulty and Ivor Burlingham (Navan Community Gardai) without their support and assistance we would not have been able to run such a programme.”. The next season of Friday Night Futsal will begin in the Autumn and anybody who is interested in finding out about the programme can contact Mark Scanlon on 086-7954353.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com