A walk taken by the many famous Irish internationals was made by 192 students from 24 primary school teams into the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Wednesday, May 30 for the SPAR FAI Primary School 5s National Finals. Six teams left with National titles but all twenty four will leave with memories forever immortalised.
The six sections saw the schools divided into Provincial representatives in small, medium and large schools divisions. The girls are encouraged to play with the boys in the SPAR ‘A’ Cup, SPAR ‘B’ Cup and SPAR ‘C’ Cup sections but there is a separate competition for girls only; SPAR ‘A’ Girls Cup for small schools, SPAR ‘B’ Girls Cup for medium schools and the SPAR ‘C’ Girls Cup for large schools.
The 24 qualifying schools have come through four months of fun filled nationwide activity. The journey began with their local County events, Regional and/or Provincial qualifiers to reach this stage of the competition with excitement mounting around the local areas.
Ulster were the big winners of the day with Latnamard NS, Monaghan (SPAR ‘A’ Cup), St. Brigid’s NS, Glenmakee, Inishowen (SPAR ‘A’ Girls Cup), and Scoil Iosagain, Buncrana, Inishowen (SPAR ‘C’ Girls Cup) lifting their respective trophies. The Dublin schools of Leinster from Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin (SPAR ‘B’ Cup) and Scoil Assaim, Raheny (SPAR ‘C’ Cup) were on top of the podium and Munster’s Clogheen/Kerry-Pike NS, Cork (SPAR ‘B’ Girls Cup) rounded off the list of winners.
This year the programme featured 1,528 schools with a total of 31,728 children participating which is a new record for the 5s programme which has been in existence since the mid-1990s.
Colin Donnelly, SPAR Sales Director said, “As a community-based retailer, SPAR encourages a healthy and active lifestyle and is proud to be a supporter of primary schools’ soccer in association with the FAI. SPAR local retailers throughout the Country have been supporting the programme for four years, which encourages children to enjoy the benefits of exercise in a fun, safe and inclusive environment.”
Seán Carr, FAI Schools Chairman added; “The competition has gone from strength to strength in recent years thanks to the assistance of our sponsors, SPAR. There was an additional 3,000 participants involved this season, taking our total to nearly 32,000 boys and girls.
SPAR 'B' Cup
The SPAR ‘B’ Cup saw a broad geographic remit covered as Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire, Bawnmore, Galway (Connacht), Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin, Baile Átha Cliath (Leinster), Scoil Íosagáin, Aghada, Cork (Munster) and St. Oran’s NS, Cockhill, Inishowen, Donegal (Ulster) try to make a top of the table finish.
Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcain claimed success with a victory that required the most astute mathematicians as a single goal decided the group. It didn't seem a likely outcome when St. Oran's NS came from behind with goals from Kai Bardini and Luke O'Donnell to win 3-2. O'Donnell had given St. Oran's NS the lead before Player of the Tournament Tomas O'Muireagain equalised and put the Dublin side temporarily in the lead. The Gaelscoil recovered in their second game with a 5-1 victory over Galway side Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire, with O'Muireagain, the son of Republic of Ireland World Youth Championships bronze medallist Thomas Morgan and nephew of former Senior International Wes Hoolahan, netting all five goals. Entering into the final game, the Dublin side knew that they needed a four goal swing against Scoil Iosagain, Aghada. They duly delivered with a 6-2 victory. The Cork school were left to collect the silver medals. They began with a 3-0 win over the Bawnmore-based school courtesy of Shane Flynn, Ben Cashman and Eric Cunningham's goals. The Munster side tore apart third placed St Oran's NS with a 7-1 success with braces from Eric Cunningham, Jack Broderick-Flynn and Sean O'Callaghan part of the septet. The three-way tie was complete by St. Oran's 6-1 victory over fourth-placed Scoil Iósaif Naofa.
| Scoil Íosagáin | 3 | 0 | Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire |
| St. Oran's NS | 3 | 2 | Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin |
| Scoil Íosagáin | 7 | 1 | St. Oran's NS |
| Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire | 1 | 5 | Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin |
| Scoil Íosagáin | 2 | 6 | Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin |
| Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire | 1 | 6 | St. Oran's NS |
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
| 1 | Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| 2 | Scoil Íosagáin | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | St. Oran's NS | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | -12 | 0 |
SPAR 'C' Cup
Scoil Iósaif Naofa, Oranmore, Galway (Connacht), Scoil Assaim, Raheny, Dublin (Leinster), Glasheen BNS, Cork (Munster), Scoil Íosagain, Buncrana, Inishowen, Donegal (Ulster) will took to the field at full strength in the.
There was joy for Dublin as Scoil Assaim showed no sign of stage fright and powered to success. They kicked off the day with a 4-1 victory against Buncrana's Scoil Iosagain. Danny Jeal's brace accompanied by James Wall and James Byrne put the Leinster champions into the ideal position. Their momentum continued into the second game with Byrne hitting a double while Wall and Jack Melia adding the necessary strikes to make it six points from six despite Colm Whelan and Cathal Penny scoring for the Oranmore-based school. Jeal made it four goals for the day with another brace in the final game against Glasheen BNS. James Wall made it three for his tally and Darragh Clery finished the day off from a scoring point of view. Scoil Iosaif Naofa finished second with victories over Glasheen BNS and Scoil Iosagain. Colm Whelan and Darragh Clery got the two goals against the Cork side then Whelan hit the winner against Buncrana based Scoil Iosagain after Colm O'Sullivan's opening goal for the Galway side was cancelled out by Darren McColgan. Glasheen were bronze medalists courtesy of a 3-1 victory over Scoil Iosagain who finished fourth.
| Scoil Assaim | 4 | 1 | Scoil Iosagain |
| Scoil Iósaif Naofa | 2 | 0 | Glasheen BNS |
| Scoil Assaim | 4 | 2 | Scoil Iósaif Naofa |
| Scoil Iosagain | 1 | 3 | Glasheen BNS |
| Scoil Assaim | 5 | 0 | Glasheen BNS |
| Scoil Iosagain | 1 | 2 | Scoil Iósaif Naofa |
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
| 1 | Scoil Assaim | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 9 |
| 2 | Scoil Iósaif Naofa | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Glasheen BNS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 |
| 4 | Scoil Iosagain | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 0 |
SPAR ‘B’ Cup (Medium schools, mixed/boys)
Scoil Naisiúnta Mhuire, Bawnmore, Galway | Seán O’Flynn, Jamie Faherty, Éanna Monaghan, Shane O’hEochagáin, Ryan Flaherty, Seán Duggan, Jack Lonergan, Brian Connaughton
Teachers/Coaches | Aisling McGrath & Jonathan Beirne
Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin, Baile Atha Cliath | Rían Ó Hogáin, Reece Ó Murchú, Tadhg Ó Catháin, Seán Ó Conghaile, Tomás Ó Muireagáin (Captain), Dónal Ó Dúáin, Lúc Ó Catháin, Aaron Ó Teimhneáin
Teachers/Coaches | Cárthaigh Ó Cuill & Seán Mac Cárthaigh
Scoil Íosagáin, Aghada, Cork | John Walsh, Seán O’Callaghan, Eric Cunningham, Jack Broderick Flynn, Ben Cashman, Aaron Kearns, Evan Crowley, Oscar Slye
Teachers/Coaches | Jerome Sheahan & Lar Collins
St. Oran’s NS, Cockhill, Inishowen, Donegal | Kevin O’Rourke, Conor McDaid, Kai Bardini, PJ Doherty, Cahir McDaid, Dylan McDaid, Shina Anafi, Luke O’Donnell
Teachers/Coaches | Shaun McLaughlin & Kathryn Doherty
SPAR ‘C’ Cup (Large schools, mixed/boys)
Scoil Iósaif Naofa, Oranmore, Galway | Galius Babonas, Cathal Sweeney, Colm Whelan, Cathal Penney, Harry Duffy, Gerry Carr, Darragh Clery, Colm Shivnan
Teachers/Coaches | Marc O’Boyle & Danny Gleeson
Scoil Assaim, Raheny, Dublin | Niall Cox, Evan O’Looney, Danny Jeal, James Byrne, James Wall, Hayden O’Neill, Liam O’Connor, Jack Melia
Teachers/Coaches | Liam O’Connor & Don Wycherley
Glasheen BNS, Cork | Gene Kareem O’Leary, Evan Morgan, Eamon Commins, Danny Harris, Bennett Mbowoua, Ryan O’Connell, Sam O’Connell, David Byrne
Teachers/Coaches | Damian Ryan & Dónal McCarthy
Scoil Íosagáin, Buncrana, Inishowen, Donegal | Liam Duncan, Andrew Davison, Kieran McElroy (Captain), Daire McColgan, Danny McDaid, Aaron Cleary, Seán McLaughlin, Patrick Devlin
Teachers/Coaches | Maria Doherty & Jonathon Adair
