Marlin Coast Rangers vs Mackay Lions in the final regional matchup of Football Queensland’s Kappa Cup

Two teams with Australia Cup dreams will battle for regional Queensland supremacy this weekend. Find out how the clash between these two NQ powerhouses is shaping up.

Marlin Coast Rangers FC celebrates after their victory over MA Olympic in the Kappa Queensland Cup's Northern Regional Final. Picture: Jason Galea

A spot in the Australia Cup finals series is tantalisingly close for two regional football clubs in North Queensland, but after Saturday’s clash only one dream will remain alive.

Cairns club Marlin Coast Rangers FC will play Mackay Lions FC in the regional final of Football Queensland’s Kappa Cup, after both clubs progressed through five gruelling fixtures so far this season to get to this stage of the tournament.

Whichever side prevails in Saturday’s clash will progress to the final eight teams in the tournament, with just one further hurdle remaining between them and entry into the final 32 of the Australia Cup.

Rangers player-coach Crios O’Hare said his side will come into this clash full of confidence, fresh off wins in both the Kappa Cup along with the other competitions they’ve been playing in.

Marlin Coast coach Crios O'Hare, assistant coach Gavin Broomhead and captain Charlie Beverley after claiming the Crad Evans Trophy. Picture: Supplied

“The confidence is pretty high, but we know it’s not going to be easy and we’re going to have to play well to get the win,” O’Hare said.

“We’ve got a little bit of intel on the Lions, they’re a club not many of us have much experience playing against, so it will be a bit of the unknown.

“We just have to emphasise what we bring to the table more than anything else.”

Despite the strong results coming in, O’Hare maintained that there were a few key areas for improvement from their game against Mareeba that would need to be fixed to give them the best possible chance.

“Probably for the first time this season, we just weren’t as clinical in attack as we should’ve been, we were wasteful with some of our chances and that kept Mareeba in the game,” he said.

“We want to be taking those chances early in the game and putting ourselves on the front foot. The plan is always to take the lead early and stay there.”

As for the venue being in Townsville? O’Hare said it wouldn’t make a difference where they played.

“We’re fine with going wherever, it doesn’t make a difference to us, Townsville’s a bit closer to home and it’s a nice surface, but at the end of the day we have to play our best to get the win.”

The Kappa Cup regional final will get underway at 5.30pm on Paradise Park Field 1.

Originally published as Marlin Coast Rangers vs Mackay Lions in the final regional matchup of Football Queensland’s Kappa Cup