St. Columb's College U18s ready to prove themselves at Windsor Park

U18 NISFA Cup Final

St. Columb’s College U18s vs. Integrated College, Dungannon

Tuesday, 12:30pm

National Stadium, Belfast.

Playing at Windsor Park will give St. Columb’s College U18s the incentive to perform to their best in tomorrow’s NIBSA Cup final against Integrated College, Dungannon.

That is the view of St. Columb’s joint-coach Mark Scoltock, who believes his team can show what they are made of on the biggest stage of their young lives so far.

St. Columb’s have been superb on the road to the final this year, beating Portadown College, Rathmore Grammar, St. Colm’s, Draperstown and then Grosvenor to make it to the NIBSA final. Now, with just one more step to go, the excitement is building in the squad.

“It will be some spectacle for the boys and I think they are all really excited,” Mark said. “I don’t think any of us have actually played at Windsor before so it should be a great occasion definitely.

For young boys it can be a daunting thing to go to such a big stadium and play in it. There will be a nice wee crowd up there, but I think if they prepare themselves properly it should really bring out the best in them to be honest. The players are all brilliant and they are all technically excellent so playing in that stadium should definitely help them.”

The players have been working hard to make sire they are as prepared as they can be, with extra work in and out of school hours in the build up to tomorrow’s final.

“The group is seriously dedicated,” Mark agreed. “In previous years you might struggle to get players out on a regular basis or the numbers would not what you would like in training, but this year the boys have been excellent.

“Nobody has been shying away from the training. We’ve had brilliant numbers before school. We’re normally doing an hour before school on a Tuesday morning and a couple of sessions after school also. They are a great bunch of lads and hopefully they can go to the final now and use all that stuff that they have done to get a result.”

Tough opponent

St. Columb’s have scored 18 goals on the road to the final and conceded just three times, but Mark, and fellow coach James Green have warned their team that Integrated College, Dungannon will be their toughest test yet.

“They have got some affiliation with the Steven Gerrard Academy up in their part of the country as well, so they will have a few players from that who are able to play. It should definitely a good game and a close game,” Mark explained.

“Our boys have had some challenges on the run to the final. Some of the team have been solid and sitting in and we’ve been trying to find different ways to break them down and the boys have done that really well. Hopefully we can go and find some solutions against these boys now and hopefully get a result in the final, but it will be a tough game, tougher than the boys have had up until now definitely.”