EduFootyAid 2024 . . . What an incredible day!!! Northern Ireland 4 - England 4 (England win 5-4 on penalties). Team England took and early lead through @SimonPobble and Gareth Griffith made it 2-0 midway through the first half. The game was to turn just before half-time when the hosts pulled a goal back and then had a second goal disallowed by a tight offside call. The Northern Ireland team continued their dominance at the start of the second half as they first got an equaliser and then took a 3-2 lead. Gareth Griffith then got his second of the game of the game to tie the score at 3-3 with 15 minutes to go. As the game ended the final 5 minutes the home team broke away and as I tried to prevent the striker rounding me to put the ball into and empty net, I brought him down and the ref rightly pointed to the spot! The Northern Ireland team dispatched the penalty with aplomb and it appeared that the trophy would be remaining on home soil. As the game entered its dying minutes Simon Blower looked to have levelled the game for the England after a great run and shot from @BenMiley8 , but the ball agonisingly sailed over the bar. In a final throw of thr dice centre half Callum Adamson from @LanchesterEP was thrown upfield and with almost the last kick of the game he scored to level thr match at 4-4 and take it to a penalty shootout. The first four penalties were all scored and then I was able to make amends for my earlier error by saving the third penalty from the home team. Four more quality finishes from the spot followed and it fell to Peter Harding @amazing_muggle to make it five penalties out of five for the England team and to enable me to lift the EduFootyAid trophy for the fourth time! An incredible game on the pitch, but more importantly and incredible effort of the pitch raising funds for ‘Beyond’ @wearebey0nd (a mental health charity supporting children and young people). There has already been over £700 donated and the link remains open if you would like to sponsor too: justgiving.com/fundraising/e… A massive thank you to @2SimpleSoftware and @CaninNigel who have backed #EduFootyAid since its inception in 2018 and who sponsored ‘Team England’ for this event, but particularly to @texthelp and @TH_PatrickM & @TH_Andrewc who have made this event possible in Northern Ireland and who sponsored the home side and had many of their staff playing. The hospitality from all involved was absolutely incredible and we had a great night out after the game. Friendship have been formed and bonds made and TextHelp and their staff will now hopefully be integral parts of EduFootyAid moving forward. A big shout out to @MordueTeach , @PaulWat5 , @A_mcgeeney @dawnhallybone ,@caroljallen @FonettiApp many more who travelled from England to both play and support the match. Here’s to many more EduFootyAids in the future and continuing to support mental health charities and promoting wellbeing.