Summary
- The inaugural Kingdom Cup U9 Tournament took place on Easter Saturday, March 30th in Mounthawk Park.
- All games were of 20 minutes duration and each team was guaranteed a minimum of five games.
- The playing format was in line with the FAI Player Development Plan, the only change saw the games played as 6v6 instead of the normal 5v5 for this age group.
- 11 clubs entered the Tournament bringing 18 teams while 5 pitches were in use on the day.
- The teams were divided in to four groups with group games kicking off at 10.30am and running right through to 2.30pm.
Group 1
Killorglin AFC Yellow
Killarney Celtic Green
Regional Utd Navy
Holycross AFC White
Group 2
Mount Merrion Youths FC
GB Rovers FC
Blarney Utd White
Carrigaline Utd Yellow
Group 3
Killorglin AFC Blue
Killarney Celtic White
Regional Utd White
Holycross AFC Red
Blarney Utd Blue
Group 4
Shelbourne Academy
Regional Utd Red
Holycross AFC Yellow
Carrigaline Utd Blue
Ballinasloe town AFC
- Running in tandem with the Tournament was a Penalty Kick competition. At the end of each group game a Penalty Kick shoot-out took place with each team taking three penalties – receiving 1 point for each penalty they scored and 1 point if their goal-keeper saved a penalty. This was an exciting feature as all teams had the opportunity to win the Penalty competition regardless of the results in their games. On the day Shelbourne Academy were the shoot-out winners just pipping Killarney Celtic and Mount Merrion by a point.
- Following the Group stage the top 2 teams in each group went on to the Knockout Phase while the teams that finished 3rd, 4th and 5th played one more game 3rd Group 1 vs 3rd Group 2 etc – this ensuring that they played 5 games on the day.
The Quarter Finalists were;
Killarney Celtic Green
Holycross AFC White
Mount Merrion Youths FC
Carrigaline Utd Yellow
Holycross AFC Red
Killarney Celtic White
Shelbourne Academy
Carrigaline Utd Blue
- The Quarter Final draw saw two derbies with the two Killarney Celtic Teams being drawn against each other as were the two Holycross AFC teams.
- After some exciting games the e knock-out phase resulted in the two Dublin sides (Shelbourne Academy and Mount Merrion Youths FC) making it through the final which was played in front of a large crowd. Some great football saw Mount Merrion emerge victorious after a great day’s football.
- While the winning team received the Kingdom Cup, the players received winners and runners-up medals and all other players in the tournament received participation medals. Kerry FC Sporting Director was on hand to make the presentations.
