22/06/2026
Shelbourne 2-1 Drogheda Utd
As the sun began to reveal itself on a hazy Monday morning, Shelbourne and Drogheda faced off in the Champions Cup final in front of a large crowd at Carraroe NS. Shelbourne were one of the standout performers during the tournament, but a gritty Drogheda had battled their way to this final and were the neutral's favourite. Having been preordained the likely victors, Shels began nervously and after sustained pressure from Ruby McLynn led to a defensive mix-up, the Drogs took a surprise lead in the first minute. Shaking themselves, Shels threw the kitchen sink at their Louth neighbours, who through a combination of resolute defending and the woodwork managed to reach half time unscathed. As Michael Kelly bore down on goals early in the second half, his delicate lob had an air of inevitability as it nestled in the back of net for the Shels equaliser. Finally settling the Dublin nerves, once again Kelly turned matchwinner as he pounced on some casual defending with a poacher's finish, showing the significant attending crowd why he had made the Team Of The Tournament. Despite the constant probing of Jamie Lynch, who incidentally won the Player of the Tournament Award, Drogheda ran out of ideas and were reduced to speculative efforts from distance in the final minutes. Shelbourne celebrated jubilantly as the final whistle blew, delighted to emerge victorious against a very spirited Drogheda side. Bragging rights for 2025/2026 go to Shelbourne and the largest Carraroe Champions Cup in history has drawn to a close. We are already looking forward to next year's competition!
A massive thank you to all the families who generously donated and in particular the following sponsors:
The Burns family, the McLoughlin family, the Hunt family, the Kharchenko family, the Kilfeather family, the McGarry-Racka family, the Clarke-Groves family, the Graham family, the Jawad family, the Lannon family, the O'Hara family, the Staunton family, the Amal family, the Banerjee family, the Conlon family, the Galavan family, the Higgins family, the Joseph family, the Meehan family, the McNabola family, the Henry family, the Lavin family, the McNamara family, the Naughton family, the Sedighi family, the Gallagher family, the Harte family, the Joseph family, the McLynn family, the Casey family, the Kelly family, the Hackett family, the Harrison family, the Safi family, the Colaco family, the Minton family, the Johnston family, the Maguire-Trueman family, the Kearins family, the Glenister family, the McGrath family, the Murrin family, the Walsh family, the Clancy family, the Kyrlenko family, the Kaltigins family, the McTernan family, the Mooney family, the Kasowski family, the Maguire family, the Reilly family, the Coll family, the Crossan family, the Isaac family, the Duncan family, the Feeney family, the Lynch family, the Muru-Kelly family, the Bobby family, the Haran-Walsh family, the Carty family, the Ward family, the McCafferty family, the Feerick family and the O'Kelly family.
We hope you all have a wonderful, restful and peaceful summer!
