Sunday the 4th of September saw the annual Patrick Higgins Tournament take place. Thankfully following a very wet day on Saturday for the clubs annual Fun Day the weather picked up for the tournament and stayed dray for the duration of the day allowing the football to flourish.
Teams in attendance this year included Ballinascreen, Castledawson, Loup and Slaughtneil, along with Lissan and Kilrea who had won the B and A shields the previous. With a mix up meaning one team wasn’t able to attend on the day the final two teams were made up by our own u11 panel who thankfully had the numbers needed to facilitate the two teams. Let the games begin!
The early group games saw some eagerly contested games with Kilrea, Ballinacreen, Loup and Slaughneil showing early signs that they would be involved right to the last on the day. Following the group stages the semi final pairings were confirmed with the A shield seeing Loup take on Slaughtneil and and Kilrea facing Ballinascreen. After two highly entertaining games it would be Slaughtneil would would take on Ballinascreen for the A shield.
The B shield semi final pairings saw Lissan take on Castledawson while the hosts ‘A’ team faced off against their ‘B’ team for a place in the final. Following on fro last years success Lissan progressed to the final where they would meet the Martins.
The B final saw some great individual performances from both sides with Lissan’s attack shinning through on the day to see them claim back to back B shields.
In the A final both teams showed great skill levels and scoring ability paired with some outstanding team work, however Slaughtneils scoring power shone through and they ran out winners with a couple of points to spare.
With some outstanding performances on the day from players across all teams, it was Slaughtneils Frankie Bradley who took the award of the player of the tournament.
Photos from the day can be found both here and here.
Thanks to all clubs who took part on the day and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.