The Allen McKinstry cup proved full of action for the very start and culminated in penalty shootout success for the Republic of Ireland champions Calasanctius College at the Billy Neill Centre. The first round of matches in the British Isles championship saw the Scottish champions Braidhurst High school beat St Teilo’s Wales 3-0, St Columbs, Derry share a 1-1 draw with Barnfield West Academy champions of England and finally the match of the day Calsanctius College beating Our Lady and St Patricks College, Knock 6-1. Day two of the Allen McKinstry cup again showed the abundance of talent on show with eleven goals being scored over the three games. St Columbs overcame St Telio’s 2-1 in a close encounter, Braidhurst high came back from a 1-0 deficit to run out 4-1 winners against Our Lady and St Patricks College while Calasanctius College scored three second half goals to beat Barnfield West Academy. The Final day of the British Isles cup saw Calasanctius College face Braidhurst high school for the Allen McKinstry cup. Calasanctius took the lead took the lead early in the game with Braidhurst striking back straight from the kick off. Despite both teams pushing hard for a winner the match finished 1-1 and went to penalties. Calasanctius College goalkeeper Mark Greaney made two fantastic saves during the shootout to secure the Allen McKinstry cup for the Irish team. In the other games on the day Barnfield West Academy secured third place with a 2-0 win over St Columbs and Our Lady and St Patricks College gained their first victory with a 5-2 win over St Teilo’s.

Slovakia v Northern Ireland – U15 Schoolboys (Wednesday 27th May 2015 – NTC Stadium Senec, 11.00 am)

Match Report

Tipping hat trick secures a draw for Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland U15 team claimed a well-deserved 3-3 draw in their international challenge match against Slovakia in Senec thanks to a second half trick by Josh Tipping.

The hosts opened the scoring after 23 minutes when Bruno Cernansky fired home from close range. Soon afterwards Marc McKenna missed a great opportunity to level the scores when he collected a pass from Caolan Boyd but with only the keeper to beat McKenna fired high over the bar from 12 yards.

One minute before the break Nicholas Pochyly doubled the lead blasting the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.

Five minutes after the restart Tipping got the first of his goals netting with a low right foot shot after being sent through by McKenna.

Slovak substitute Denis Potoma restored the two goal advantage with his first touch of the ball when a wind assisted free kick flew into the net.

Northern Ireland pressed strongly and following a great run down the right, a cross to the far post by Sean Wallace was headed back by Pablo Andrade and Tipping made no mistake with a close range header.

Six minutes later Andrade again provided the opening for Tipping as his inch perfect pass left the striker with only the keeper to beat and he finished with a powerful shot into the corner of the net.

FULL-TIME: Slovakia 3-3 Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Team: Rory Brown, Sean Wallace, Kai Wardlow, Aaron Donnelly, Adam McAleenan, Marc McKenna, Tom Mathieson, Reece McGinley, Caolan Boyd, Josh Tipping, Pablo Andrade

Substitutes: Ian Maxwell replaced Adam McAleenan 50 minutes Niall Owens replaced Wardlow 50 minutes Jake Irvine replaced McKenna 60 minutes Leo Brown replaced McGinley 60 minutes Harry Robinson replaced Sean Wallace 68 minutes Luke Ferguson replaced Andrade 68 minutes

The Irish Football Association are launching the first ever School Mark for Schools across Northern Ireland. Football Development Manager Keith Gibson commented "Schools football is something we in the Irish FA are passionate about. We want to give boys and girls as many opportunities as possible to take part in schools football. This scheme will encourage schools to put all the building blocks in place to allow football to flourish and develop a lifelong love of the game in their pupils." NISFA Development Officer Ross Redman added, “It’s important to develop the infrastructure of Schools Football and the collaboration with the Northern Ireland Schools’ FA is an important element of the scheme.” The scheme is a pilot scheme with a limited number of schools selected in the first instance. There are 3 sections - Primary, Post Primary and Special Schools. Within that there are 3 levels – Gold, Silver and Bronze. Furthermore, the scheme will target different sizes of schools- Small, Medium and Large. There will be incentives offered to schools who achieve different levels of the scheme. The School Mark will focus on several key areas including – Establishing a Head of Football, Competition structure, Extra Curricular Programmes and media plans. Schools who are interested in applying for the Scheme please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.