Marlins Coast Rangers FC set to take on Townsville’s MA Olympics in the Kappa Queensland Cup
Cairns football club Marlins Coast Rangers FC are gearing up for the biggest match in their 79-year history when they compete in the Northern Regional Final of the Queensland Kappa Cup.
Local Sport
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Marlins Coast Rangers FC is set to take part in what club members are calling “the biggest match in the club’s history” when they take on Townsville’s MA Olympic FC in the Northern Regional Final of the Kappa Queensland Cup.
The competition, which grants entry to the round of 32 of Australia’s largest football tournament the Australia Cup, is open to every single club in Queensland.
The top four teams will go in to play in the round of 32 as the state’s representatives, while also playing off against one another for the Kappa Cup itself.
Rangers have gone through four rounds of competition so far to reach the point where they have been crowned as Cairns’ representative for state championship honours, defeating Southside Comets FC 6-0 to progress through to this round.
Rangers player-coach Crios O’Hare said the entire club is ecstatic to have made it to this stage of the competition.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the club. Having the opportunity to play against Townsville and then hopefully progress further into the tournament,” he said.
“But we know it’s not going to be easy, we’ve got to make sure we play our best and hopefully that’s good enough to progress.
We do have a few guys in this team who have played in this tournament before and gone pretty far in it.”
O’Hare said the team as a whole has played really well to begin the season, both in the cup and also in their FQPL Far North season.
“We missed out on this opportunity after being knocked out pretty early last season. It’s been a focus for us to make it as far as we can in this competition, and potentially progress through beyond the regional games,” he said.
“We’re all very motivated as a group, but we know our opposition is looking to come up here and spoil the party.
“We’ll be looking toward those senior guys who have progressed a long way in this tournament to lead the way.
While O’Hare said the club had a “proud history,” he acknowledged that there had been some struggles over the past decade.
“The club went through a challenging decade or so, but it’s been really good since then to get some success happening here,” he said.
“Hopefully this is the start of some long-term success for us into the future.
“We’re looking forward to having not just the Marlins Coast crowd behind us but hopefully the whole of the Cairns football community can get behind us.”
The Rangers take on MA Olympic at Pennell Field on Saturday, with kick-off set for 6pm.
If victorious, they’ll take on the winner of Mackay Lions FC and Bundaberg’s Across The Waves FC for the regional title.
Originally published as Marlins Coast Rangers FC set to take on Townsville’s MA Olympics in the Kappa Queensland Cup
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