By Bob Hughes
Last Saturday evening saw the first of what may well become an annual event on the school sports calendar – the inter-school’s floodlit football competition. Richard Dunn, Physical Training teacher from St Julian’s school, organised this football challenge between St Julian’s, St Dominic’s, Deutsche Schule Lissabon (German school) and Carlucci American International School of Lisbon (CAISL).
The first of the matches was hard fought between St Dominic’s and St Julian’s and ended in a 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, on the other floodlit astro pitch, the game between the German school and CAISL saw the German School victorious by three goals to one.
In the second round of games, the pace began to heat up as the evening air cooled down. St Dominic’s were this time easily beaten by the German School by seven goals to one, while on the other pitch, St Julian’s hammered the CAISL by five goals to one. After a short break a penalty shoot knock-out competition between the four teams took place. CAISL and St Julian’s played first, with St Julian’s putting four past the CAISL keeper and only one CAISL ball getting past St Julian’s keeper.
Next it was the turn of St Dominic’s against the German School. This time St Dominic’s got their revenge by putting four past the German keeper whilst the German school only managed two past the St Dominic’s keeper. The final of the penalty shoot-out ended 13-12, with St Julian’s the final winners, although either team could have won with some excellent penalty shots from both teams.
The final round of games saw St Julian’s get the better of the German School with a score of 4-2. Meanwhile, on the other pitch, the referee sent off both teams, and gave the trainers a short sharp word for their players after some off the ball tackling. The eventual winners of this match were CAISL by four goals to St Dominic’s three. Overall winners of the challenge were St Julian’s, the German School ranked second, CAISL third and St Dominic’s fourth.
The penalty shoot-out cup also went to St Julian’s. David Smith, headmaster of St Julian’s International School, was on hand to present his own school with the Challenge Cup, whilst the Penalty Shoot-out Cup was presented by Richard Dunn. Both commented that they had enjoyed an evening of footballing entertainment that was of a high standard and will be remembered for a long time and both were looking forward to the next event.
