East Utd boys take honours in Crowe 6-a-side

There was no lack of excitement or goals over the weekend in Mervue as the Derek Crowe 6-A-Sides provided plenty of non-stop soccer action, which was severely lacking in a much bigger event, which also came to a conclusion last weekend.

The tournament proved to be another huge success when providing another glorious weekend of constant soccer, even if the weather wasn’t too kind on Saturday. More than 130 games were played throughout the busy weekend of action with East Utd side Pass the Ball Spudie eventually adding their name to the winner’s roll of honour when the overcame fellow Ballybane side Castle Celtic in a tight final on Sunday afternoon.

Large crowds once again descended on McHugh Avenue in Mervue over the weekend despite the poor weather conditions for Saturday’s group stages. The tournament proved once again what a popular and successful tournament it has become as the crowds were entertained with some excellent soccer, excitement and some brilliant goals and thrilling finishes.

The competition, which is held in memory of former Mervue Utd and Galway Utd player Derek Crowe, proved yet again to be a great success and a fitting tribute to Derek with once again another huge entry of 64 teams taking part in this the 15th year of the tournament.

The weekend had started on Saturday with the group stages as 64 teams battled their way through sixteen groups of fours and the terrible wet conditions. The first day’s league proceedings did not produce any real shocks as all the fancied sides qualify for the knockout stages on Sunday morning after the opening 96 league games were played.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.