Furness Academy’s Year 9 rugby league team produced a magnificent second half comeback as they defeated Dowdales School 28-18 in the Cumbria County Schools Final.

In what was an all-Furness final at Craven Park, it looked odds-on that Dowdales would be adding the title to the Year 10 crown they claimed three weeks previously, as they opened up an 18-0 lead.

To make matters worse for Furness Academy, they lost one of their key players at half-time, but a try from captain Finley Dutton-Roscone started the turnaround in the quintessential ‘game of two halves.’

It was all going Dowdales way in the first half, as the Dalton side opened the scoring through Tom Farren’s try before Noah High forced his way over from close range for their second score.

They appeared to open up clear daylight between the sides when Farren powered through for his second of the afternoon and Furness Academy’s cause wasn’t helped by the loss of Cameron McBain, who suffered a nasty head wound during a tackle.

With McBain taken to hospital, his teammates began to rally when the influential Dutton-Roscone darted his way through from around ten metres out.

Two tries in 15 minutes from Harley Bradley-Allan then reduced the gap to two points, the second seeing him outpace the Dowdales defence to score in the corner.

With Jack Osman, Ryan Kyte and Joe Davidson all having a terrific match, the one-way traffic of the first half had been completely reversed.

The turnaround was completed when Davidson used his pace to sprint clear from 35 metres and Dutton-Roscone, who kick four goals in total, made the conversion to open up a four-point lead.

Dowdales desperately tried to find a way back into the game, but the trophy was in the bag for Barrow-based Furness Academy when Max Davis was able to dive over in the closing stages.