North tipperary take kennedy cup by storm

The NTSFL, North Tipperary Schoolchildren's Football League, are the talk of the nations Schoolboy Leagues after the group stage of Ireland's largest and most prestigious underage football tournament, the Kennedy Cup.

Having been drawn in arguably the toughest group, alongside tournament favorites the Dublin District Schoolboys League, who are on the back of winning the Kennedy Cup 3 times in a row, The Kilkenny Schoolboys League, who are high seeds and the Longford Schoolboys League, North Tipperary finished in second place on goal difference with three top quality performances that took the eye of all in the University of Limerick on Monday and Tuesday.

The performances have lead to the NTSFL side earning the award for Team of the day on Day 2 of the tournament, an amazing award to win as it includes all 32 of the nations Schoolchildren's Leagues.

NTSFL U14's started off on Monday evening against Killkenny and roared into a 2-0 half time lead before the heat and exhaustion seemed to take over allowing Killkenny to level the game with less than 20 seconds remaining for a 2-2.

The shock of the tournament came on Tuesday as the NTSFL took on the DDSL of Dublin who were off the back of a 13-0 win over Longford.

The DDSL seemed to be running out of ideas when they took lead after a quickly taken free kick caught the NTSFL defence off guard to make it 1-0 in the second half, which lasted little over three minutes when the Dublin keeper was lobbed to make it 1-1, which is how it finished and shocked the tournament favorites, it was no shock to the NTSFL who are aware of the talent they have produced.

A 4-0 win over Longford left the NTSFL level on points with the DDSL and Kilkenny and a second place finish in the Group on goal difference, leaving them feeling 20 seconds away from a group win.

Barry Coffey of Nenagh AFC has scored six goals in the three games while Maurice Walsh got North Tipperarys 7th. Captain Keith Ryan has been outstanding at centre half while goalkeeper Callan Scully, also of Nenagh AFC has been, arguably, one of the top goalkeepers of the tournament with huge performances all over the squad it is difficult to only single these players out, huge credit to the players and Managers Michael Gavin and David Nash who have managed three stunning performances out of a great group of players.

Wednesday sees the NTSFL take on Wexford at 1pm in the Bowl Quarter Final in UL.