Inclusion Cup proves a big success

THE third annual Inclusion Cup took place in Strabane’s Melvin Sports Complex on Thursday of last week when six teams competed for glory.

The tournament, which brings teams together from across the North West saw teams from Knockavoe School, Omagh’s Arvalee Special School, Donegal Horizons from Letterkenny and Carndonagh and Derry’s Destined and Tuned In, in action. With the teams divided into A and B sections, it was Destined who came out in top in the A category, with Letterkenny’s Donegal Horizon’s the B winners following a day of joy on the indoor pitch after rain scuppered plans for an outdoor event.

And while the inclement weather forced the organisers to think on their feet, one of them, Cormac Woods, admits, the event remains a work in progress but it’s one that he is delighted to see go from strength to strength.

“It’s the third year we’ve done it and it’s called the Inclusion Cup because it’s for adults with intellectual disabilities and we invited a lot of the different service organisations from the Western Trust to put in a football team,” he explained.

“Each year we try to make it bigger and better so this year we ran an A and a B competition because last year we found some of the teams were a bit miss matched. So this year we encouraged some of the bigger organisations to bring two teams and it worked out really well because the competition was brilliant.

“Everyone had a great time and I have to give a special mention to Knockavoe, who got to the final despite being considerably younger than the teams they were playing.

“We had it planned for outside at Melvin, but the day that was in it, it was bucketing so we went inside and I have to give a massive thanks to Ciaran in Melvin for facilitating us.

“We live and learn because we organised it for a time when a lot of the organisations are going off on holiday and a lot of them were phoning to say they weren’t able to make it, so next year it will be earlier on in the year.

“But the important thing is that these guys never really get the chance to compete, they get left out, so the Inclusion Cup is about trying to bring them in, to try to include them in organised sport. It will give them something to work towards, something to compete in against others of the same ability as them and the joy they get from it is amazing.

“Every single participant was buzzing, it was like their FA Cup final, that is what it means to them, it’s brilliant.”