MUMBAI: It was a heart-breaking day for the Goan teams, Our Lady of Rosary High School, Fatorda and Rosary Higher Secondary School, Navelim, as their junior boys and school girls’campaign in the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports National Football Championship ended here, on Tuesday.
Both teams went down in hard-fought matches that could have gone either way. While Our Lady of Rosary lost to OM Roy Memorial Higher Secondary School, Shillong 3-4, Rosary HSS girls were defeated 1-2 by Kadathanad Rajas Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode.
Captain Shano Tariang put OM Roy ahead in the first half with a double strike but Maxwell Furtado reduced the margin in the 31st minute. Midfielder Knerktilang Buam then took charge and struck a brace in the 39th and 56th minutes to put the Shillong side in a strong position.
Our Lady of Rosary boys were not willing to let it go so easily. Defender Meldon Oliveira and Maxwell hit back by finding the net in the 53rd and 60th minutes.
However, OM Roy held on to the slender lead and made the semi-final cut.
The Goan boys lost all three matches and finished last in Group A that was topped by Minerva Public School, Chandigarh (9 points) and OM Roy (6 points).
The Rosary girls needed a win to qualify, even a draw would have put them in contention.
Anju ATK rattled the Goan outfit with a third minute strike but the Goan girls fought back to score the equaliser in the 26th minute through Somaaya Mukundan.
The score line stood that way for the next 20 minutes and a semi-final spot appeared to be in sight for Rosary HSS.
Striker Aswathy Varma turned the contest Kadathanad’s way as she sneaked in the match winner in the 47th minute.
The Kadathanad school ended with four points from three matches pushing Rosary (three points) to the third spot.
Umthli Secondary School, Shillong, who won all their matches to top the group with nine points.
Kadathanad will now lock horns with ChanambamThambau HSS, Imphal in the second school girls’ semi-final on Thursday while Umthli will meet My Own High School in the first semi-final.
Our Lady of Rosary, Rosary HSS senior boys and girls and Father Agnel College of Arts and Commerce, Pilar were among the four Goan teams that qualified for the RFYS Nationals but only one could make the semi-final cut.
Rosary Higher Secondary School will be in action on Wednesday in the senior boys’ second semi-final when they take on Kolkata’s Kapasdanga Satin SenVidyapith.
The senior boys and college boys’ semi-finals will be played on Wednesday with the finals on Saturday.
