The 23rd Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy encounter between the rival schools Royal College Colombo and S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia, concluded with the 2nd leg of the encounter, on the 11th of October 2014, after having played the first leg on the 4th of October 2014.

The first leg saw the Thomians gaining an edge by beating Royal College 7-5, carrying an aggregate advantage of 2 goals forward to the 2nd leg. The Royalists made a valiant effort to score and stay ahead during the first leg of the encounter, with goals from Chandula Fernando, Yashodha Wasalage, &  Kisal Assalarachchi, but fell in defense and ended up conceding goals, which saw the Thomians gaining an advantage which was carried forward to the 2nd leg .

The 11th of October saw the Royalists play with more flare, as they were leading  for a majority of the game, with stunning goals from Chandula Fernando, Rifat Uwais, Yashodha Wasalage, Yahiya Jaffer and Skipper Akila Weerasinghe. The Thomian defense was solid amidst a strong attack by the Royalists, which helped them overcome the Royalists with a score of 9 goals to 8, which brought them to an aggregate total of 16-13, thereby clinching the Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy.

Chandula Fernando, and Yashodha Wasalage were notable attacking players who gave Royal a fighting chance in both legs of the encounter, by making most of the contributions in terms of scoring, while Waleed Uwais displayed his strong goal – keeping skills as he managed to keep out many strong attempts by the Thomian forwards. Senith Samaranayake proved to be the clear cut swimmer as he managed to win the ball at the start of each quarter, showing why Royal was easily the better swimming outfit.

The U-15 game swung the wrong way in a rapid turn of events in the final few minutes of the last quarter of the 2nd leg. Having obtained an advantage of one goal after the 1st leg, the Royalists came in with confidence but missed out in the dying seconds of the game, where the Thomians were able to catch up with the deficit and cover up with an extra goal, thereby securing the Mahinda Liyanage Challenge Trophy for the year 2014.

A hard blow to the players of both teams, however a strong comeback to recover both trophies at the 24th Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy encounter is expected, with the players of the teams learning from the mistakes made this year, and improving for a successful season next year!

View the full albums here and here.