St. Henry’s and St. Patrick’s win school titles
St. Henry’s College and St. Patrick’s College clinched the Under-16 and Under-14 championships while Jegameetpar Valaipadu clinched the Open Clubs title at the 5th Milo Cup Football Championship held at the Durayappah Stadium in Jaffna.
St. Patrick’s went on the rampage against Manatkadu Romal Catholic Tamil School winning by 5 goals to nil in the Under-14 final and missed out on a great opportunity to pocket a double after losing the Under-16 final to St. Henry’s on penalties. The third place playoff of the Under-14 tournament was claimed by St. John’s College, who overcame St. Henry’s 2-0.
The Under-16 final was a thrillingly contested battle with both teams, St. Patrick’s and St. Henry’s claiming a goal each at fulltime. The game was pushed into a penalty shootout to determine the winner and it was as thrilling as the game. Eventually St. Henry’s emerged victorious by netting 9 goals against the 8 goals struck by St. Patrick’s, who had to be contended as runners-up.
The third place of this age category was claimed by Kotrawathe AMTS, who beat Navanthurai RCTMS 2-0. In the Open Club final, Jegameetpar Valaipadu beat Annaikoddai Union 2-1 to emerge victorious while St. Anthony’s Passaiyoor overcame Thuraiyoor Iyanar 3-1 on penalties to win the third place playoff after the match ended in a 1-all draw.
The 5th Milo Cup Football Championship, organised and conducted by the Jaffna Football Association and the District Secretariat of Jaffna, kicked off on October 7 with the participation of 310 teams. The tournament, which ran until November 4, had the participation of 100 school teams and 210 club teams from the Northern region, where football is an overly popular sport.
The tournament included over 300 games and was held at 11 different venues in the Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts and included teams playing in the Leagues of Island, Jaffna, Walikamak, Wadamarachchi, Point Pedro, Maruthakeni and Kilinochchi.
Regarded as one of the keenly participated and well organised tournaments in the country, the competition originated in 2013 with the aim of developing the game of football in Jaffna. At the beginning the tournament had 40 teams but the number gradually increased as the years passed by. The tournament was sponsored by Nestle Lanka’s Milo for the fifth consecutive year. - Pix courtesy Nestle Lanka
The presentation party at the awards ceremony
Club Champions - Jegameetpar Valaipadu
Under-16 Champions - St. Henry's College Jaffna
Under-14 Champions - St. Patrick's College