After a fantastic win against King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny two weeks ago, Greenhill's U14 Football Girls were geared up and ready to play in the semi-final of the Welsh Schools Cup against Cwmtawe, Swansea, last week.
Turning out at The Clicketts ground in their new kit, the girls were definitely ready for a battle to reach the finals of the competition.
After a strong start, with some unlucky misses by Hannah Lewis, Holly Furlong and Maisie John, the girls were awarded a penalty after a handball in the box. Darcy Escot stepped up calmly and safely put it away in the top left-hand corner to put Greenhill 1-0 up.
In the windy conditions, the girls played some nice football to give Hannah Lewis an opening to chip the 'keeper to take the girls 2-0 up before half-time.
Looking strong in defence, Sam Croft, Jess Webb, Kim Alman and Casie Paxton held their line well not to let any Cwmtawe players make any threatening runs. Lori Amos made some excellent saves in goal and looked confident in her position, feeding some excellent balls from her goal kicks.
Darcy Escot, Kirstie Lewis and Becky Gwyther made some dangerous runs down both wings, creating dangerous play, with support from Maisie John and Hannah Lewis in the middle. Jess Webb also created some lovely play with her confidence, stepping up from the defence.
After half-time Shannon Knowles came on confidently to make some great tackles in defence and again looked strong in the back line.
Holly Furlong and Becky Gwyther looked dangerous in attack and had some excellent shots on goal, with the 'keeper making some great saves.
Holly Furlong managed to take the score to 3-0 with a run from the halfway line, making some lovely passes to Hannah Lewis and Becky Gwyther, resulting in a clean shot to the bottom left corner of the goal.
Bethan Osborne looked dangerous as she made some threatening runs at goal, using the support from Kirstie Lewis and Darcy Escot on the wings.
Hannah Lewis again managed to find the back of the net with a powerful shot to take the score to 4-0.
Hannah Lewis and Bethan Osborne created some great opportunities in attack and again had great support from the midfield.
Cwmtawe attempted to attack on a few occasions, but Lori Amos covered her goal well and the defence looked too strong to get by on numerous occasions, especially from Nicole Bevans, Jess Webb, Sam Croft and Shannon Knowles.
Darcy Escot scored another excellent goal from outside the box, with a fantastic long range effort finding the back of the net, followed by a similar finish from Kirstie Lewis on the right-hand side, taking a shot from the corner to score an outstanding goal.
The girls showed great teamwork and passion throughout and not once doubted their ability to win. There is great talent amongst the squad and they have proved what girls football can achieve within the school. All girls should be proud of their achievement and they have deserved a place in the final which will be played on May 9/10 in Oswestry.
A big thank you also to the support from parents/grandparents of the girls and especially to Carrie Slack for refereeing and Mike Lewis for his help. Good luck girls in the final.
Team: Hannah Lewis, capt., Lori Amos, Maisie John, Bethan Osborne, Darcy Escot, Sam Croft, Shannon Knowles, Kim Alman, Nicole Bevans, Casie Paxton, Jess Webb, Kirstie Lewis, Hannah Taylor, Becky Gwyther and Holly Furlong.
DOGS ON SCHOOL GROUNDS
It has been noted that dogs are still being exercised on school grounds, the playing field along the fence at Heywood Lane and on the rugby pitches. Please do not allow this soiling of your children's play areas.
This is a serious health risk, as well as a great annoyance. Games of rugby and football have to be delayed, cancelled or postponed and lessons disrupted. Please be aware of the larger consequences - do not exercise your dogs on the school grounds. Thank you.
Greenhill Make Welsh Schools Cup Final
Greenhill's 1st XV have made it to the Welsh Schools Bowl Final on April 23 at Eugene Cross Park, Ebbw Vale.
After an impressive win at home in the quarter-final against Cynfig Comprehensive School (Kenfig Hill), Greenhill travelled to Tondu for a semi-final encounter against Llantwit Major Comprehensive School.
The first half was dictated by Greenhill, who played their best rugby of the season so far, with a superb defensive display backed up by precise attack creating early tries for wing Daryll Mansbridge, who showed pace and power to complete a counter-attacking move set up by the centre partnership of Jack Gurreiro and Ben James.
The control of outside-half Toby Smith and number eight Michael Jones set the standard for the half with the forwards hungry at the break down and dominant in the scrum.
Toby Smith kept the play in the opposing half, not only with the pre-planned kicking game, but with some powerful runs, one of which led to a try of his own.
The final play of the half saw Jack Gurreiro completing the best try of the match, after a multi-phase play saw the ball go from touchline to touchline and finally the little Portuguese rocket cut an angle to fly under the posts.
At half-time, Greenhill's lead was 24-10 and a final place looked probable, but a series of penalties against them and a resurgent Llantwit Major team, who started to show the quality that got them to the semi-final, coupled with a Greenhill dip, saw question marks appear.
Llantwit scored a series of tries and put a 14-man Greenhill under a great deal of pressure as the gap was quickly closing.
The key moment of the second half was when Greenhill's number eight Michael Jones exploded through the Llantwit defence from broken play 40-metres out, and not only did he beat six defenders, but he dummied the fullback to score under the posts.
Llantwit scored an unconverted try, taking the scores to 31-29, and a missed penalty from their outside-half with a minute to go fixed the scores and Greenhill's final appearance was guaranteed as outside-half Toby Smith cleared the touchline for the last time.
There were many notable performances, from debutant Joel Read, of Year 11, in the second row, to Lewis Davies, who played with his usual determination, but conceded no penalties which was a miracle in itself. However, the two stand out players had to be Ben James and Michael Jones, who broke the defence on many occasions and defended as if their lives depended on it.
Squad: Chris Heesom, Toby Smith, Jack Guru, Dan Thomas, Pat Elliott, Steffan Davies, Daryll Mansbridge, Ben James, Alex Harley, Jon Miller, Tom Harland, Nino Rodgers, Michael Jones, Lewis Davies, Dan Gosnold, Dom Landragain, Sam Harts, Eddy Duffy, Joel Read, Sam Ferguson, Dan McDermott, Connor Keohane, Rob Fairlie, Lloyd Davies.