St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10 won the Samaposha All Island U15 Football Boys’ Championship defeating Al Aqsa Vidyalaya, Kinniya 2-0 at the Albert F. Peiris Stadium in Wennapuwa.
At half time it was a goalless affair but St. Joseph’s scored twice in the 2nd half to win the championship. Shenal Sandesh, who had a stellar tournament, was once again amongst the goals along with Shenal Suriyage.
St. Joseph’s won the All Island U15 Championship after 29 years. The last time they won was back in 1987 under the captaincy of Jerome Ambrose.
Al Aqsa in their semi-final raced to a 3-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes with Hameed Al Husseinie College goalkeeper making two mistakes. Though Hameed Al Husseinie scored twice in the remaining minutes it was not enough.
The Josephians had a nail-biting semi-final where they won 3-2 against St. Sebastian’s College, Katuneriya. St. Sebastian’s took the lead early on but goals from in form Shenal Sandesh and Jonathan Thomas gave the Joes the lead going into half time.
Thomas doubled his side’s lead with his 2nd in the 2nd half and even though St. Sebastian’s pulled one goal back it was not enough.
In the 3rd place match another error from Hameed Al Hussenie College goalkeeper gave St. Sebastian’s College, Katuneriya a 1-0 win.
In the quarter final St. Joseph’s were up against it after missing a penalty and a few chances in the first half. Samanthurai Muslim MV, Kalmunai lead 1-0 at the short whistle. However a rejuvenated Josephian U15’s thrashed 3 goals to win 3-1, with Arunodh Perera, Shenal Suriyage and Shenal Sandesh scoring the goals.
Joes had a morale boosting victory against one of the favourites, St. Henry’s College, Ilavalai in the pre-quarter final winning 5-2. At half time the scores read 1-1 but the Darley Road boys scored twice early in the 2nd half while St. Henry’s pulled one goal back to make it 3-2.
However there was no comeback from the Jaffna lads as St. Joseph’s scored two more to finish things off. Shenal Sandesh scored twice for the Joes.
St. Joseph’s College who were drawn in Group F drew their first match against St. Joseph’s College, Anuradhapura 1-1 and won against Dhirandara MV 2-1 with Sandesh and Darren Cramer scoring one each. In the final group stage match they thumped Fordyce Tamil MV 5-0 with Shenal Sandesh scoring a hat-trick.
