The successful St Mary's squad with the trophy

Menston St Mary's U-19s 5 Abbey Grange 1

Following a 7-0 victory over Ilkley GS in the semi-final, Menston St Mary's were clearly in good form going into the U-19 Airedale and Wharfedale Schools' Conference Cup final at Leeds University playing fields.

However having lost 1-0 earlier in the season to Abbey Grange St Mary's were far from complacent. The first-half was a nervous and cautious affair with neither side managing to break the deadlock. St Mary's twice went close but the game ended goalless at half-time.

The second-half proved to be a different game completely. St Mary's took an early lead when Dominic Lytwyn coolly converted an exquisite through pass from Dominic Marwood, who was outstanding in central midfield.

However, Abbey Grange equalised within minutes to level again. Following several minutes of concerted pressure for Abbey, St Mary's weathered the storm to begin to play their more usual quick passing game.

This brought almost instant reward with Matt Turner scoring from close range after the keeper had made two good reaction saves. St Mary's scored their third goal when Turner converted from all of 20 yards from a Ben Brookfield lay off.

Turner scored his third goal and St Mary's fourth when he seized on Dominic Lytwyn's flick in the six yard box.

St Mary's went from strength to strength and, full of running, scored a fifth goal when Ben Brookfield fired back a defensive clearance straight into the net.

St Mary's U-19 coach David Geldart was full of praise for both sides. He said: "Both teams played the game very competitively but in a good spirit. The second-half performance was outstanding from St Mary's with every player taking responsibility and contributing to the victory."

St Mary's captain Andy Bowmar said: "This was a great team performance with all 14 players playing their part."

The St Mary's squad was: Dominic Lytwyn, Josh Humpleby, Matthew Gibson, William Normington, Matt Turner, Michael Brown, Tom Bajorek, James Holland, Patrick Wanzala-Ryan, Andy Bowmar (Captain), Tom Sinnott, Ben Brookfield, Chris McCarthy, Dom Marwood.

12:09pm Thursday 24th April 2008

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