The annual Patrick Higgins tournament took place on Saturday the 11th of May and as per most years the sun came out to join us for the day.
As always the standard of football was of the highest level and the boys and girl severed up some wonderful football for those in attendance.
The teams in attendance included last years A and B shield winners Greenlough and of course ourselves along with Balinascreen, Bellaghy, Castledawson, Magherafelt, Ballymaguigan and Swatragh. With group A being made up with Ballinascreen, Greenlough, Swatragh and ourselves, while Bellaghy, Castledawson, Magherafelt and Ballymaguigan made up group B.
The group games proved to be very entertaining with some very tight games especially in the group B fixtures, and following the round robin games it was Ballinascreen and Swatragh progressing to the A Shield semi finals from Group A and joining them was Magherafelt and Bellaghy from group B.
The B shield semi finals saw Ballymaguigan take on our boys while Castledawson took on last years A fingers Greenlough. With very little between either team in the two semi finales it was Ballymaguigan and Greenlough who would progress to the B Final.
The B final continued the very high standard with both teams playing some brilliant football and with only a kick of the ball between them Greenlough held on against a very good Ballymaguigan team to pick up the B shield.
In the A shield semi finals, Ballinascreen would face Bellaghy while Magherafelt would take on Swatragh. With he sun continuing to shine bright the two A semi finals served up some top quality football resulting with Bellaghy and Magherafelt progressing to the final.
The A final continued the standards set by the teams all day with some brilliant team and individual performances throughout. There were some wonderful points scored by both teams but as these games go, goals have a big part to play in the outcome and it was Magherafelt who took their opportunities when they presented themselves allowing them to pick up the A Shield.
There were many outstanding performances on the day but it was Magherafelts Dáire McGlone who took the award of the player of the tournament.