- St. Stephen's De La Salle BNS

After an exciting season, St. Stephen's are once again the champions!!! We won the 2017 Jack Kennedy Memorial Cup in another epic final against Scoil Lorcáin at the RSC, home of Waterford FC, on Friday, June 23rd. It was a superb performance, and Scoil Lorcáin played their part in making the final such a thrilling spectacle. St. Stephen's started the stronger, and took the game to Scoil Lorcáin from the first whistle. The midfield 5 of Dylan, Shane, Sam, Daniel and Anthony played some lovely football, with many passes making their way to our striker, Conor.

Conor turned provider as he did well to get into the box, before pulling the ball back for Anthony to fire home and put St. Stephen's into the lead! Scoil Lorcáin came right back at us, and put a number of great moves together, forcing a corner, which was defended brilliantly by our superb back line of Jack, Cian, Jack and Adam. The defence worked very hard to keep Scoil Lorcáin at bay, and set up a devastating counter attack which saw Sam thread a lovely ball to Anthony, who doubled his, and our school's lead. Credit to the players from Scoil Lorcáin, who never gave up and were rewarded when a very good corner caused a moment of indecision and led to a goal. Half time came shortly after with the score at Scoil Lorcáin 1-2 St. Stephen's.

The second half was a simply amazing watch, as good, if not better than anything you'd find on Match of the Day! Both teams kept the ball down and played some really wonderful football. There were plenty of fantastic challenges from both sets of players too. After a double injury forced two players to the line, a Scoil Lorcáin corner found its' way into the back of the net and levelled the game up at 2-2. Another team might have folded under the pressure, but not these boys from St. Stephen's. The team picked themselves up and shored things up at the back, cutting out attack after attack and counter attacking a number of times. Keanan pulled off some wonderful saves in goal and kept the game level as it headed into the final 10 minutes.

After a period where the play became bogged down in the middle, Anthony picked up the ball near the halfway line and rode 5 challenges before powering into the box, and slotting home to give St. Stephen's the lead once again. 2-3. What a game! Again, the boys from Scoil Lorcáin battled their way back into the game, testing our defence. Substitutions arrived as Cian and Josh came on to offer fresh legs, and their first contributions sent the ball forward, where Conor and Jake narrowly missed the target. Shortly after, Anthony grabbed another goal which sealed the game.

Full Time: Scoil Lorcáin 2-4 St. Stephen's.