“We heard the excellent news that our first side had won the KZN Indoor Hockey title, beating Westville 5-4 in a thrilling final. In winning the title for the first time, we also became the first school to win both the indoor and outdoor titles in one year. Our age group sides generally did very well in the indoor leagues as well, with the 2nd XI, 16A and 14A sides being runner-ups in their leagues. Overall, it was a season to remember and I must congratulate the players, and particularly our MIC and coach, Darryn Gallagher, on these great results. Well done!” Mr Jordan, Headmaster Northwood School
THE Northwood team rounded off an amazing indoor hockey season with a 5-4 victory over rivals Westville Boys to clinch the 2012 KZN Schools Indoor Hockey League title. This capped a fantastic year for the Northwood 1st team after an outstanding outdoor season when they lost only one league game, won the KZN Schools Night League and went through the annual Founders Festival undefeated. The win was all the more important for Northwood as they had earlier in the tournament gone down heavily (2-10) to the Highway team playing with neither their captain, Matthew de Sousa, nor their coach, Darryn Gallagher, who were unavailable.
However it was their only defeat of the tournament and they went to win seven pool games on their road to the final to qualify for the semi-final in which they defeated Glenwood 5-3. The final was of a high standard and just when it appeared that Westville would go into the half-time break with a goal in hand Northwood’s John McAlery scored an equaliser to make it 3-3 and to give Northwood the momentum going into the second half. Northwood came out strongly on the resumption and scored twice to give themselves a two-goal cushion which they held on to until late in the game when Westville pulled one back. But Northwood held on for a 5-4 victory and the title.
During the course of the season the Northwood indoor team scored 68 goals and conceded only 24.
NORTHWOOD’S 1st’’s KZN INDOOR HOCKEY RECORD
Pool games:
Northwood beat Clifton 10-1, beat Glenwood 3-0, beat Kingsway 11-2, beat DHS 9-4, beat Kearsney 11-0, beat Thomas More 12-0 and lost to Westville 2 -10
Semi-final:
Northwood 5 Glenwood 3
Final:
Northwood 5 Westville 4
Well done to Mathew de Sousa for not losing a game of indoor in two years, last year for U16’s and this year for 1sts (he was away when they lost to Westville).
Congratulations must also go to Matthew de Sousa, Steve McManus & Tylo Remke who were selected in the KZN U18A Indoor team and John McAlery & Kyle Pillay in the KZN U18B indoor teams which took part in the U21 Inter-Provincial Tournament in February.
This capped off a fantastic year for the Northwood 1st hockey team after an outdoor season which was highlighted by being undefeated at the annual Founders Festival, losing only one match at home during the league and winning the annual KZN Schools night league.
Congratulations to all the Northwood hockey teams on a fantastic season.
FURTHER HOCKEY SUCCESS
The 2nd team were undefeated in winning the B section and then beat Kingsway 3 – 1 in the Promotion / Relegation game. The goal scorers were Y. Govender 2, D. Hoareau. Their results during the season were as follows: beat Ashton 1st 10 – 0, beat Glenwood 2nd 5 – 3, beat Toti 1st 8 – 1, beat Crawford La Lucia 1st 4 – 2, beat Kloof 1st 2 – 1 and beat Westville 2nd 6 – 4
The U16A team ended 2nd in the A section, losing just one game to Westville! Their results were as follows: beat Northwood U16B 10 – 0, beat Glenwood U16A 4 – 3, beat Westville U16B 11 – 2, beat Clifton U16A 7 – 3, lost to Westville U16A 5 – 3 and beat DHS U16A 5 – 1.
The U14A ended 2nd in the A section ahead of Glenwood on goal difference after being tie on points. Their results were as follows: beat Clifton U14A 5 – 4, beat Crawford La Lucia U14A 7 – 3, lost to Westville U14A 7 – 1, beat Thomas More U14A 6 – 0 and lost to Glenwood U14A 6 – 5.
OLYMPIAN COACH, DARRYN GALLAGHER
Mr Gallagher has coached a number of teams through the years: KZN Inland U18A boys (outdoor) KZN Inland U21 men (indoor and outdoor) KZN Inland Senior men’s high performance squad (indoor and outdoor) UKZN, Pietermaritzburg Campus men and ladies (indoor and outdoor) KZN Coastals Senior ladies (outdoor) SA U16 boys training squad (outdoor) SA U19 men’s assistant coach (outdoor) SA U21 men’s Head coach (Current – outdoor) As a player he represented South Africa 87 times.
He has attended an All Africa Games, 2 x African Cup of Nations, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and Beijing Olympic Games.
