WITH THE World Cup beginning in earnest St Cyres have been celebrating their own footballing success.

In the 5x60 Vale Girls Football Tournament, the Year 7 team beat Cowbridge 2-0. The goals were scored by Rebecca Gentles. She was well supported in attack by Bethan Taylor. Shannon Mitchell tackled well in midfield with Sophie Thomas making some excellent runs from defence. Lauren Richards and Daniella Purser took it in turns to play in goal and defence. In their final group match the girls played Bryn Hafren. They were a strong side who capitalised on some defensive errors by St. Cyres to win 2-0. They went on to win the competition.

The Girls U14 Football Team also won the Vale 5x60 tournament and followed this up with success in the Central and South East Wales Tournament. The successful girls were Amelia Davidson, Kayleigh Parsons, Jessica Bailey, Catrin Lewis, Hannah Lewis and Niamh Pemberton.

In the Central and South East finals in Merthyr, the girls faced the strongest opponents in the first match. Y Pant had some excellent footballers and strength in depth. Despite the onslaught of attacking play from Y Pant, Hannah Lewis was outstanding in goal, keeping the score line at 0-0 for most of the game. Towards the end the inevitable happened, Y pant scored. However the St. Cyres girls battled on and created a couple of half chances but the game ended in defeat.

The next game was against Cowbridge, who they had beaten the previous week. St. Cyres made a tentative start, gifting Cowbridge with an early goal. Once again the girls dug deep. Amelia Davidson, Niamh Pemberton and Catrin Lewis continued to battle hard on the small pitches and eventually the breakthrough came with a goal from Amelia. The game ended in 1-1 draw.

The St. Cyres team now had to win both their remaining games. They went straight on to play St. Illtyds. Kayleigh Parsons finally had some space to use her skills and managed to score two outstanding goals. The St Illtyd's team did manage to get a goal back but St. Cyres held on for the win. The final game was against Llanishen, and once again the opposition took an early lead. Megan Kupa and Catrin Lewis displayed high fitness levels to push up in midfield and to get back in defence. Kayleigh once again managed to get an equaliser. With fifty seconds to go, Amelia Davidson was through on goal, with cool assurance she scored passed the keeper to give St. Cyres the win they needed to take the runners-up spot.

The St Cyres Year 7/8 girls won the Vale of Glamorgan tennis tournament in a shoot-out against Stanwell. The team was made up of Amelia Davidson, Sophie Thomas, Rebecca Gentles and Kayleigh Parsons. The girls now go through to the South Wales Finals.

Meanwhile, the boys team had great fun and improved with every game. The team consisted of Isaac Follon, Rhys Gentles, Rhys Watkins and Iestyn James.

In other sports:

• Bethan Taylor in Year 7 has been selected for the Cardiff and Vale netball squad.

• Georgia McCulloch in Year 7 is in the Welsh squad for trampolining.

• Millie Baston in Year 10 went through some gruelling fitness tests to be invited to join the Welsh Rowing Development Squad.

• Carys Allen in Year 10 played in her first tournament for the U15 Welsh Netball Team and continues to be involved with UWIC Basketball and the U18 Welsh Basketball team.

• The Girls U14 Basketball Team was runners up in the Vale 5x60 tournament and runners up in the Central and South East Wales Tournament. On both occasions they lost to a strong Cowbridge side. Girls involved: Molly Owen-Ffoulkes, Megan Kupa, Bethan Salter, Morgan Dursley, Rebekah West and Seren Rogers