GHK and Inverleith are U14 Champions

Congratulations to GHK girls and Inverleith boys on winning the inaugural U14 National Club Cups at Dalnacraig in Dundee on Sunday 24 April.

The event was a celebration of youth hockey, bringing together the best young teams in the country who had qualified from the group stages during the season. The quality of hockey from all the teams was really impressive for such a young age group.

U14 Girls Finals

In Pool A, Inverleith girls started the day with a hard-fought 3-0 win against Gullane, thanks to goals from Cassidy Dunlop, Eva Hodge and Amelia Wilson.  In the second match, GHK started very strongly with a 5-0 win against Gullane, including a double from Stella Cousins, to set up a ‘winner takes all’ final pool match against Inverleith. The purples opened the scoring through Helena Binnie, but Josie Walker-Smith equalised just before half time. Katie Reid put GHK 2-1 ahead early in the second half, and Inverleith just couldn’t find an equaliser in a great match.

In Pool B, an impressive Kelburne performance gave them a 2-0 win against Dundee Wanderers, with both goals coming from Ava Graham. In a really tight second match, Watsonians scored twice in the last nine minutes to seal a 2-0 win v Kelburne. Amy Jenkinson and Gabriella Fontenla scored the goals.  The maroons sealed their place in the final with a 4-0 win v Dundee Wanderers.  Jenkinson and Fontenla scored again, along with Charlotte MacAlister and Emilia Dempster.

The Girls’ final was a high-quality match by two very talented teams. Watsonians took the lead through Gabriella Fontenla after 15 minutes to go in 1-0 up at half-time. However, GHK came roaring back in the second half, equalising through Katie Reid. Just as it looked like we were heading for penalties, Josie Walker-Smith scored from a goal-mouth scramble with one minute to go and seal the title for GHK.

Meanwhile, Inverleith and Kelburne shared 3rd place after a 1-1 draw in the play-off. Ava Graham equalised after Helena Binnie had put Inverleith ahead.  A fair result for two strong teams.

U14 Boys Finals

The Boys’ matches were equally exciting, starting with Kelburne beating Dundee Wanderers 3-1. Tom Hunt, Matthew Jack and Cole Norris scored before Daniel McConnachie got a well-deserved consolation goal for Wanderers.  Next in Pool A, Inverleith started with a bang, hitting five past Wanderers. Tom Bennett, Zak Turtle, Adam Cottam, Hugh Binnie and Finlay Duncan were the scorers. There was drama in the final group match, with Tom Jarrold’s early goal seemingly sending Kelburne through until the last minute. Inverleith’s pressure finally paid off when Maximillion Males equalised to send his team through on goal difference. It was really tough on their opponents.

In Pool B, ESM beat Watsonians 2-0 in the first match thanks to two goals in the last three minutes from Alexander Duffie and Finlay Mackenzie. ‘Sonians upped their game in the second match, beating Western Wildcats 4-1 thanks to doubles from Matthew Leiper and Jamie Leonard. Peter Moister scored Wildcats’ consolation goal from the penalty spot. ESM then qualified for the final in style with a 4-0 win v Wildcats. Heiton, Pillinger, Duffie and Hendry were the scorers.

The boys’ final was a thrilling end-to-end match, with Maximillion Males’ early goal being cancelled out by a penalty flick from ESM’s Greg Wardlaw to make it 1-1 at half-time.  With almost the last hit of the day, Tom Jarrold scored at the back post to win it for Inverleith, to the delight of their fans.

Over on pitch 2, it finished 1-1 with Noah Gray equalising for Watsonians after Matthew Jack had given Kelburne the lead in the 3rd/4th play-off.  In a marathon penalty shoot-out, it took 18 penalties to find a winner as Kelburne finally triumphed 4-3.  Daniel Docherty scored the winner just when it looked like we were there for the night!

It rounded off a superb day’s youth hockey and there was a resounding ‘thumbs-up’ for this new competition. Thank you to all our officials and umpires for their hard work over a long day; to all the families for their support; and to Dundee Wanderers for laying on superb catering and the sunshine!

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