September 20, 2019 - 1813 views
Budding football stars from local colleges battled it out to be crowned national champions in the thrilling final of the Welsh Colleges FA's Development Cup.
The victorious team, consisting of a mixture of sports students from Coleg Menai and Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor's colleges, beat their local adversaries Coleg Llandrillo 4-2, in the national final played at Llandudno Football Club recently.
In a fiercely competitive close encounter, it was Llandrillo who took the lead when Mason Blackwell Jones opened the afternoon's scoring from a well-worked corner.
However it wasn't long until Menai/Meirion-Dwyfor were level, after Gwion Thomas's 25-yard free-kick sailed in to the top corner of the net. Within five minutes, Menai/Meirion-Dwyfor had added another, taking a 2-1 lead.
Menai/Meirion Dwyfor extended their advantage with five minutes of the second half remaining, Steffan Toplis converting Jason Banks' through ball following a quick counter attack.
Llandrillo fought their way back to just 3-2 down after left-back Kieran Garnett Hughes scored to provide an exciting finale and the chance of taking the game to penalties.
Llandrillo pushed for the equaliser, which left them vulnerable and exposed at the back. Consequently, Cai Penny Williams slotted the ball beyond the despairing Llandrillo goalkeeper to put the game beyond reach and be crowned Welsh champions!
This match coincided with the exciting news that Grŵp Llandrillo Menai's application to have a team in the Premier Division of the English Colleges Football Association (ECFA) league next season had been accepted.
This will allow the best players from across all three colleges to come together to form an elite team which will compete at the highest level of football within further education in the UK, thus allowing the college's students to combine their academic studies with top-class sporting opportunities.
In addition to this team, an additional two teams will be formed which will compete in the lower divisions of the ECFA league structure. This will allow the progression of players from within the Grŵp, based on their performances at each level.
Coleg Menai's Academi co-ordinator and Welsh schools and colleges' u18 manager Marc Lloyd Williams, who initiated the prospect of entering a Grŵp Llandrillo Menai team into the ECFA Premier League, welcomed the approval of the application.
He said; "It is something that myself and Dave Webb (programme area manager for Sport at Coleg Llandrillo) have discussed at length over the past few months.
"We believe it's a step in the right direction for our players to develop within the ECFA system, allowing the Grŵp's best players to compete on a regular basis against the best colleges in England and Wales, thus creating a pathway for players to further develop their footballing ability across all levels.
"As a Grŵp we are continually seeing players selected to represent Wales at both schoolboy u18 and colleges u19 level.
"A number of these players, both past and present, have progressed to play at the highest club level in Welsh football for Welsh Premier League or Championship League clubs in our region".
