Townsville school Ryan reigns supreme at national futsal titles

JOSH ALSTON

November 26th, 2008

RYAN Catholic College's dominance in the under-14 level at the recent Australasian futsal championships on the Gold Coast has two students poised for international honours.

The Townsville school blasted its way through the group stages with strong wins against Saint Andrews from Cairns (10-1), Robina (2-0) and Gympie (7-3) as well a hard fought battled with Albany Creek which ended 2-1 in Ryan's favour.

They again dusted Gympie 7-3 in the semi-finals to set up another showdown with Albany Creek in the decider.

But instead of another tense encounter, Ryan demolished the southern Queenslanders with four goals in the opening five minutes to pave the way for a bruising 7-2 win.

A team of five were selected from all teams in the tournament to join the All-Star side, with Ryan's twin attacking threats Maggie Dwyer and Bethaney Lawrence both making the cut.

Co-coach Mark Burgess was ecstatic to seal the result in such emphatic fashion after Albany Creek pushed them so hard in the group stages.

"After winning all the other games they were a bit worried they would come undone in the final
but they blew them away, they played brilliantly," he said.

"It definitely is a big achievement, we really could have had all girls selected in the All-Star team."

Dwyer and Lawrence will now get a chance to tour either New Zealand Brazil or China next year and Burgess is confident his three other starters will get the nod as well, with 10-strong touring parties to be selected for the tours.