Organised by The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) and sponsored by PetroGas in an attempt to unearth new talents at the schools and nurture them to become future stars, the Banjul inter-primary school football competition reaches the last four following the completion of the group stages on Tuesday.
In the final group matches in both the boys and girls categories, St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s completed doubles over Methodist and JC Faye, combing for eight goals. They all secured identical 2-0 wins over their opponents in either categories. All four matches were played at the King George V (KG5) Mini Stadium in Banjul.
At the end of the group stage matches, Campama finished in pole position in Group A Girls with 16 points from a possible 18 and were followed in a distant second by Wesley who recorded 8 points from six matches. St. Mary’s also secured 8 points but missed out on a place in the last four due to their numerical goal disadvantage to the former. JC Faye finished with a solitary point.
In Group B Girls, Muhammedan won the group with 13 points from the six matches they’ve played and they were followed in second by St. Joseph’s who have 10 points. Albion ended on 8 points in third and thus are knocked out from the competition together with bottom place Methodist who could only saw off 4 points from a possible 18.
Elsewhere in the boys’ category in Group A, Campama and Wesley both ended the group stages with 15 points but the former edged the race for top spot because of their better goal difference of 17 compared to the former’s 12. JC Faye and St Mary’s finished in third and fourth respectively with 3 points each. In Group B, Albion won the group with 14 points from 6 games, followed by St Joseph’s in second on 12 points. Muhammedan finished third on 7 points while Methodist’s 4 points saw them ended the group stages at the base.
The semifinals will get underway on Friday when the first and second place teams in the different groups in either category face each other for a place in the finals. All the matches will be played at the King George V Mini Stadium in Banjul.
Reporting by Ebrima Suwareh & Editing by Baboucarr Camara