Good Shepherd Manggatal emerges as champion team of Solidarity Cup 2018

INANAM – The subparish of Good Shepherd Manggatal creates history by winning the Solidarity Cup 2018 with 6-5 scores against St Edmund Kota Belud through a penalty kick in the final round. Both teams failed to score the goal during the 30 minutes games in the final.

The Solidarity Cup 2018 hosted by St Catherine Inanam attracted 19 teams, one of which was a team made up of Priests and Seminarians.  It was held at the SUKMA football field on 10 September 2018.

Good Shepherd players played aggressive games from the start and won their quarterfinal against Holy Rosary Limbahau.  They then proceeded to eliminate St Catherine in the semi-final.

Offering no mercy to the mostly injured and aging St Catherine’s players, their efforts bore fruit when Adrian Jack scored a solitary goal beating Laurentius Kopong, the St Catherine goalie who happened to be the organizing chairman for the Solidarity Cup Tournament 2018.

Besides winning the Championship, they also won the Best Player Award through Adrian Jack and Best Goalkeeper award through Paulinus Aloysius.

The second place went to St Edmund who won 1-0 against St Theresa Kota Marudu in the semi-final whereas the third place went to St Catherine.  Besides winning the third place, St Catherine also won the “highest goal award” through its midfield player, Ian Lo who scored 4 goals in the 2018 tournament.

The “Joint Champions” for 2017 Solidarity Cup, Holy Nativity Terawi and St Peter Claver Ranau failed to defend their title. Both teams kept their hope alive up to the quarter final before Holy Nativity lost 0-1 to St Catherine, and St Peter Claver lost to St Theresa in a 2-3 penalty kick.

The Priests Team, despite their high spirit and  strong motivation by Team Captain Fr Rayner Bisius, only managed to complete their games in the preliminary round.

As for St Paul Dontozidon team, they failed to pass through the Priest Team, losing to a solitary goal by Fr Frederick Raymond in the preliminary rounds.

Tournament 2018 was officially open and closed by Fr Mitchelly Kiun, who was appointed as the spiritual advisor for this year’s tournament. At the close of the prize presentation, Fr Kiun announced that Solidarity Cup 2019 will be hosted by St Joseph Papar. – SOCCOM St Catherine/Michael Guntili