The long-expected day had finally arrived. After winning seven knockout fixtures in a row and practising hard for months, on Wednesday, May 18 the boys of Ysgol Greenhill’s Year 8 football team travelled to Cardiff, together with over 150 supporters, to take on Ysgol Plasmawr in the Under 13’s Welsh Schools Cup final.

Excitement in the school had been building for weeks, with messages of support flooding in from all corners. One of the team’s favourite messages came from former pupil Liam Cullen. Liam is currently a professional football player with Swansea City, who has been on loan to Lincoln City for part of the season. Thank you, Liam, for taking the time to send this message. It was greatly appreciated by all.

In the run up to the big day, the team had been presented with a new set of warm up tops. Our heartfelt thanks go to Mr. Jack Lear of Bargain Fox (pictured with the boys in the top photo) for his generous sponsorship.

The boys departed from school in the morning, and were delighted - if perhaps a little embarrassed - to find the corridors full of both staff and students clapping and cheering them on their way. After a word of luck to each from our Head Teacher, Mr. Haynes, the boys climbed aboard the bus, and were off to the Ocean Park Arena.

The last time Ysgol Greenhill had taken part in a Welsh Cup Final was in 2018, when the First XV Rugby team played at the Principality Stadium, and it was at this event that Greenhill’s #Bluewave was born. With three buses filled with blue clad supporters travelling up after school to cheer the boys on, this was proving to be another such memorable day, whatever the final score.

The anticipation for the big 6:30 pm kick off was building to fever pitch by the time the boys came out at 5:45 pm for their warm up, and the sense of occasion was heightened by their Champions League walk on, followed by the National Anthem, handshakes, coin toss and official team photographs.

It was a fantastic match, with boys on each side giving their all. As befitting a final, the teams were very equally matched, and when the final whistle blew, the score stood at 2 - 2, and it was down to a tense penalty shootout to decide the champions. With an inspired shot to the corner, Greenhill came out victorious and were met with a pitch invasion from all of their followers, who were keen to share in this fantastic achievement. The team would like to say a big congratulations to the boys from Ysgol Plasmawr on a fantastic game of football, and a huge thank you to everyone who made the trip to support them on the big day.