Huge congratulations to those who took part in the Top of the South U18 Tournament held in Westport on 15th and 16th June. The U18 boys came back with the cup which has not been in Marlborough for over 20 years. 

The Marlborough U18 team won the Stirling Memorial Cup for the first time in 23 years which is a great effort.

Firstly, they played West Coast on Saturday morning and after a frustrating first quarter where they applied plenty of pressure but didn't get the results they came away with a 10-0 win. West Coast were just outclassed skill wise and everything the strikers touched turned to gold.

They played Buller on Saturday afternoon and had a very similar game with early pressure not being rewarded. But once again the flood gates opened in the last 3 quarters with a strong midfield effort making life easy for the strikers to put it in the goal. They won 9-1 with strong performances from Sean Moran and Leighton Le Sueur.

This meant that the tournament came down to the game between Nelson and Marlborough (with Nelson winning both their games as well). Marlborough started well with 2 quick goals in the first quarter. We managed to hold that score until half time, with the game going in waves (attack and counter-attack). Nelson lifted for the third quarter with 2 goals of their own to make for a really tense final quarter. Both Nelson and Marlborough had opportunities that weren’t converted and with 7 minutes to go Nelson substituted their keeper. Marlborough managed to hold their nerve and it was a 2-2 draw at full time. Strong performances in defence from Hunter Davies and Lachlan Mackie were crucial in the last quarter. Marlborough won the tournament due to a better goal difference than Nelson.

Marlborough U18 Squad

DECLAN PHIBBS

LACHLAN MACKIE

HUGH PEARCE

NICK WILLIAMS

LEIGHTON LE SUEUR

KRIS GODSALL

PATRICK NEAL

OLLIE JARVIS

SEAN MORAN

JOSEPH WESTEND

HUNTER DAVIES

GEORGE VARNEY

WADE SWEETING

GUS VARNEY

SAM HAMILTON

Stirling Cup (U18 Boys): Winner: 1st Marlborough, 2nd Nelson, 3rd Buller, 4th West Coast

Nelson 12 Buller 0, Nelson 5 West Coast 1,Marlborough 9 Buller 1,Marlborough 10 West Coast 0, Buller 4 West Coast 3,Marlborough 2 Nelson 2.

Dodson Cup (U18 Girls):Winner: 1st Nelson, 2nd Marlborough, 3rd West Coast. 

Nelson 5 West Coat 5, Marlborough 5 West Coat 1, Nelson 2 Marlborough 1.

Article added: Monday 24 June 2019