Sport
8 June, 2026
Sides put up gallant fight
STUDENTS part of Mareeba State High School’s futsal program put up a gallant fight at a recent Peninsula carnival, missing out on progressing to the next stage of competition by just one placing.
The local high school submitted teams into the Football Queensland Peninsula Futsal Championships, recently held in Redlynch, with the Under 15 boys and Open boys teams both finishing in third spot out of nine and eight schools respectively.
The Open team, made up of all Year 11 students, started off well, beating St Andrew’s Catholic College 7-4 and then drawing 6-all with Trinity Anglican School.
However, the highlight match came when it was time to face up against St Augustine’s Catholic College. The elite Cairns school sat on a comfortable 5-1 lead at halftime but the boys from Mareeba showed their small town grit and fought back hard.
Down 5-6 with less than a minute to play, Mareeba’s Dilshaan managed to find the net to complete a hearty comeback and finish the game with a 6-6 draw.
The boys then progressed through to the semi-final but were ultimately outclassed 12-3 by Cairns High, who claimed first place in most of the age categories at the competition.
The Under 15s found two wins – defeating St Andrew’s 17-nil and Bentley Park 13-1 – but were no match for Cairns High (6-3), or St Augustine’s in the semi-final (7-3).
Mareeba High PE teacher Liam Deighton said the school’s futsal program was only relatively new, beginning about two years ago, and the growth and development it’d seen so far had been impressive.
“I’m stoked to be third behind Cairns High and St Augustine’s. They’ve got extensive football programs and they get heaps of players in the Peninsula schools team for football and futsal,” he said.
“It was really good to see the boys, who have come from no program at all, to being in the top three in the whole of FNQ.”
Deighton said all focus was now to the FNQ Schools Championship next term.
“Thanks to the team for their strong commitment to training and the parents for driving their students all around FNQ to play, and a special thanks to Joe Marinelli for his coaching expertise and half-time team-talks,” he said.
“We look forward to the FNQ Schools Championships next term.”
