Royal College edged out Mahinda College 2-1 in their 21st annual Under-19 Inter-School football encounter played for the Albert Edirisinghe Trophy at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo on Sunday (23).
With this success, Royal also extended their dominance in the overall tally to 18 wins in the series, which was inaugurated in 1984 by Albert Edirisinghe, an Old Boy of Mahinda, and his sons Gamini Edirisinghe and Janaka Edirisinghe, who are past pupils of Royal.
Royal, of course, dominated the initial stages and drew first blood inside the first 30 minutes of the game through a goal from Muhammed Zaneer before going into half time with a close 1-0 advantage over their rivals. However, Mahinda came back strongly in the second half to level the scores 1-1 courtesy of a penalty before the home side sealed the contest with a beautiful goal from Hamdi Naseemdeen during the latter stages.
The Royal Football Team Captain of 1980, R. D. Gunathilake, was the Chief Guest while former Sri Lanka Captain Asoka Raveendra was the guest of honour.
