CORNWALL SENIOR CUP Four sides target first ever win
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- Created on Friday, 14 January 2022 16:43
- Last Updated on Friday, 14 January 2022 16:44
- Published on Friday, 14 January 2022 16:43
- Written by KEVIN MARRIOTT Cornwall football's touchline ace
Two of this weekend’s quarter-finals feature all four of them – Wendron United and Sticker, who meet at Underlane, and Dobwalls and Millbrook, at Lantoom Park.
It means a guarantee that two clubs who have never had the pride and privilege of lifting the county’s most coveted trophy will be in the last four.
Maybe 2022 is a year for one of them to break their ducks.
Standing in their way, however, will be some really big hitters when it comes to Senior Cup triumphs.
Holders Falmouth Town are third in the table of all-time winners, with 12, and their all-conquering form in the South West Peninsula League suggests they will be favourites against five-times winners Newquay at Mount Wise tomorrow.
However, Craig Ainslie’s improving side are capable of a shock, especially if conditions prove a leveller. It is 30 years since the Peppermints last won the cup.
The other quarter-final looks like the tie of the round as Saltash United and Helston Athletic, both now Western League clubs, come face to face at Kimberley Stadium.
The Ashes are 10-times winners of the competition – they lifted the trophy at Blaise Park in 2018 – while Helston have won it only once, in 1937, but will be believing 2022 will be their year if they manage to get past Dane Bunney’s Saltash.
Truro City have the most Senior Cup wins with 16, their last triumph coming in 2008, but they have not been allowed to enter in recent years since their rise from the South Western League to Southern League.
The club with 14 triumphs to their name, St Austell, missed their chance to add to the impressive tally when they were beaten 2-1 at Wendron in the last round.
The Lillywhites were disappointed to go out because memories of their 2014 and 2015 triumphs are still fresh in the mind.
Bodmin Town had won four successive finals when they came up against St Austell at Wadebridge Town’s Bodieve Park in 2014 and a big crowd witnessed Phil Lafferty’s side lift the trophy after a dramatic penalty shootout. It was sweet revenge for the Lillywhites, who had been beaten 3-2 by Bodmin in the 2011 final after leading 2-0 at half-time, with Bodmin striker Luke Hodge having to play in goal for Darren Gilbert’s side.
St Austell retained the cup in 2015 with a 3-0 victory over Godolphin Atlantic in the final at Liskeard’s Lux Park.
Bodmin’s last Senior Cup success was in 2017.
St Blazey, where Lafferty is now manager and in the early stages of a complete rebuild, bowed out of this season’s tournament in the last round with a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Millbrook despite substitute Rory Jarvis’s stoppage time goal.
Blazey have won the competition 11 times, their last success coming in 2002 after their 2-0 victory against Liskeard. It was their third successive triumph, having beaten Porthleven in the 2000 and 2001 finals.
The Senior Cup was first competed for in the 1892-93 season when Penzance beat Launceston 5-0 at Liskeard.
The competition did not take place during the two World Wars.
Senior Cup winners Truro City 16; St Austell 14; Falmouth Town 12; St Blazey 11; Torpoint Athletic 11; Penzance 10; Saltash United 10; Liskeard Athletic 8; Bodmin Town 7; Newquay 5; Launceston 4; Looe Town 3; Bugle, Camborne, Helston, Porthleven & Wadebridge, once.
Tomorrow's quarter finals Dobwalls v Millbrook, Newquay v Falmouth, Saltash Utd v Helston Athletic, Wendron Utd v Sticker - all set to kick off at 1500
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