ST ANNE'S Primary School in Glasgow's East End (above top) and St Brigid's Primary School in Toryglen (above) booked their place in the first ever Pope's Charity Cup Final after two exciting matches at Lochburn Park in Maryhill.
In the first of the semi-final matches (above), St Anne's took a 2-0 lead with them into half time, before adding a third shortly after the break. To their credit though, their opponents—St Mirin's Primary School from King's Park—never let their heads go down and got themselves right back into the game with a beautiful strike from the left wing to reduce the deficit. As St Mirin's were pushing hard to get back into the game, St Anne's killed it as a contest with an excellent strike to make it 4-1 and ensure that they would be in contention to take home the top prize.
Despite one of the floodlights failing on the night, the second semi-final match (above) was a dazzling encounter, which rivalled its predecessor. St Brigid's were fastest out of the blocks and raced to a 3-0 lead at half-time after a wonderful hat-trick from the Number 10, who no doubt impressed the visiting Scottish Premiership scouts. St Constantine's from Govan, however, will have felt hard done by to go in at the interval having not gotten on the scoresheet, with St Brigid's goalkeeper having made a number of good stops to keep them out. A fantastic solo effort from St Constantine's talismanic midfielder just after the break was a just reward for their first-half efforts. The game now opened up and there was some wonderful end-to-end football, during which time it looked like it would be difficult to pick a winner, but as St Constantine's threw everything they had at St Brigid's, the were undone by another goal from the number 10 and an excellent dribble and finish from the Number 17, whose performance also caught the eye on the night. A final goal sealed the victory for St Brigid's, albeit the 6-1 scoreline was somewhat harsh on St Constantine's.
The final will now take place on Saturday October 26 at 11am in the same venue, Lochburn Park, Maryhill with an entrance fee of £2 for adults and 50p for kids and all are welcome. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow will be on hand to present the trophy to the winning captain of either St Anne's or St Brigid's on the day.
The Pope's Charity Cup is a Missio Scotland initiative that was launched this year in partnership with the Glasgow Catholic Schools FA as an annual tournament—the final of which will take place every year during October, Mission Month.
Primary Schools from across the archdiocese began competing for the cup at the start of September and the matches in the first year of the competition have been noted for their sportsmanship, the quality of football on show and their overall competitive nature.
The tournament received the backing of Archbishops Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow and Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh—Missio Scotland's President—as well as National Director, Fr Vincent Lockhart, and the charity's Diocesan Director for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Fr Liam McMahon.
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