GTI hoping to cap debut season with title

Date Published: {J}

The Galway Technical Institute (GTI) is hoping to cap a stunning debut year in the Combined Colleges soccer tournament by lifting silverware when they travel to Leixlip in County Kildare next Wednesday, February 16, to take on Dundalk IT in the Division One final (kick-off 2pm).

The team, which is managed by Johnny Glynn, finished top of their group, losing only a single game and have overcome Carlow IT and two time finalists Sallynoggin, in the quarter and semi-finals respectively, along the way.

Glynn was unsure of the standard at the start saying “it was hard to judge how we would do, but after three or four games, we knew we had a chance”, and they will go into Wednesday’s game full of confidence despite coming up against a Dundalk IT side that goers into the final as overwhelming favourites, having finished their group unbeaten and negotiating a comfortable passage through the knock-out stages.

GTI started their Group C campaign off on a positive note with a 3-1 away win against neighbours GMIT Castlebar in early October. This early win was followed by their first and only defeat of the campaign, going down to a strong IT Sligo ‘B’ outfit 2-1 in a hard fought contest, away from home.

GTI got their season back on track with a well-deserved 2-1 victory away to Athlone IT to register six points from their first three games, and with just two teams to qualify for the next stage, GTI were level on points with South West College of Enniskillen at the top of the group, who they faced in their first home game of the campaign.

Victory here would leave them in pole position to win the group and they didn’t disappoint, winning the game 3-0. GTI wrapped up the group in style as they put NUI Maynooth to the sword, beating them 3-0 in their last game and qualified as group winners.

Players such as Conor Winn, Frank Burke, Paul Dooley, David Cullen and probably GTI’s player of the season, winger Donal Kelly, have all starred for GTI during this campaign. Goalkeeper Winn has been consistent and reliable, while midfielder Cullen has impressed with his crisp passing and tackling. Centre back Burke has been a solid, while Kelly has shown his true class as the competition has worn on.

Dundalk IT stormed their way through Group B, scoring a whopping 21 goals in the process.