Coleraine players savour Nations Cup triumph

In a dramatic final Derek Whiteside’s Northern Ireland B1 team overcame a very strong Wales outfit to lift the trophy in the Carlton Hotel, by a 17-14 margin.

It’s a fantastic achievement by manager and players alike even more so with the ‘A’ teams recently reduced in size from 11 players to 5, the standard of ‘B’ team Pool is now incredibly high.

The Coleraine players involved were Ady Toner, Gary Wallace and Marc Hutchinson.

After qualifying from the group of eight teams with five victories from seven fixtures the NI boys outplayed England 17-11 in the semi final to storm into the showpiece decider.

And once there, they weren’t to be denied victory, as the unique atmosphere they create and superb team spirit carried them through to the title.

The work and commitment put in by Derek over the last few years has paid off on the big stage of an EBA International event.