*5th Mecca memorial U-14 football tournament
FINAL SCORE
OL of Health HS, Cuncolim beat Mae Dos Pobres HS, Nuvem 1-0
Andrea Fernandes
PANAJI
Our Lady of Health High School, Cuncolim grounded Mae Dos Pobres High School, Nuvem 1-0 to win the Meccabeus Memorial Under-14 football tournament which was organised by Fr Agnel Youth Centre at the Fr Agnel High School Grounds, Pilar on Sunday. This was the 5th One-Day All Goa invitational inter-school football tournament. Fourteen out of 16 invited teams in the state slugged it out to win the coveted trophy.
The tournament started at 9:30 a.m with teams playing matches of two halves and each half being 10-minute long. The finals began at 6.30 p.m and was played between Mae Dos Pobres High School Nuvem and Our Lady of Health High School, Cuncolim. The chief guest for the finals was Climax Lawrence, former India football captain. At half time both the teams were locked 0-0.
Our Lady of Health High School increased the lead in the 25th minute when Ivan Fernandes scored to make it 1-0.The match was dominated by Our Lady of Health High School, Cuncolim while Mae Dos Pobres High School, Nuvem came in strongly in the second half.
The winners took home the trophy along with cash prize of Rs 5,000 while the runners-up became richer by Rs 3,000 and claimed the trophy.
Insert box
'Late Mecca moulded young footballers'
Andrea Fernandes
PANAJI
The Meccabeus Memorial Under-14 football tournament was first conducted in the year 2011 in memory of Late Meccabeus Rodrigues who was a physical education teacher at Fr Agnel High School, Pilar.
“Although Mecca, as he was fondly known, is no more with us he firmly etched his name in the heart of football lovers and those who were fortunate enough to know him,” informed Fr Andrew Silveira, the principal of the school.
He was also instrumental in bringing laurels to the school in the game of football through his dedication and hard work. Many of the players he has produced have represented the state team and some have even donned the National colours and made the school proud.
“This tournament was started in memory of our P E teacher Late Meccabeus Rodrigues who had a great hand behind moulding the football talent at our school. The students that trained under his guidance have not only represented the school but have also won laurels. This tournament is a platform for the students from various schools of Goa to come together and participate and know how good they are,” said Fr Fredrick Rodrigues.
In the previous edition of this tournament, Loyola High School, Margao were the winners and bagged the prestigious rolling trophy along with the winners trophy and cash prize. Fr Agnel Multipurpose High School, Verna were the runners-up and took away the runners-up trophy and the cash prize.
