Poletti 
Northern Tigers captain Lily McMahon. Photo: Poletti
As the Northern Tigers get ready to face Sydney University in the 2024 Sapphire Cup Final, it gives the squad a chance to step over the hurdle which has been in its way for the last couple of seasons.
An agonising penalty shootout loss to Macarthur Rams in the 2022 NPL NSW Women’s Grand Final was followed by a 2-1 loss to APIA Leichhardt in the 2023 Sapphire Cup final, the Cup’s inaugural year.
Club captain Lily McMahon says it would mean the world for the side to get over the hurdle.
“There’s nothing worse than getting to a grand final and losing,” McMahon said.
“Obviously you can accept it, but there’s nothing better than winning a trophy, so it would be such an incredible feeling this year and I think that we’ve earned it, so fingers crossed.”
McMahon is in her first season as captain, having taken on the armband from Hannah McNulty, who was at Canberra United to begin the season in the A-League Women.
She described it as a shock when asked to take on the role, but was also grateful to receive it, also creditng McNulty and her teammates for helping her along the way.
“It’s been incredible working alongside Hannah. She’s helped me so much this year, alongside a lot of the other girls who have just helped me,” she said.
“It’s my first year as captain, but I think it’s an incredible honour and I couldn’t think of a better group of girls to lead.”
The Northern Tigers defeated NWS Spirit to make the Cup Final 2-1, but the game ended in rather unique circumstances as the flood lights went out during stoppage time.
McMahon said she knew straight away that they had won when the lights went out.
“You can kind of see it in the film, my hand went straight up in the air. It happened to us when we lost a couple of weeks back and our lights went off, [the referees] pretty much shut the game down straight away,” she said.
“So I knew as soon as that happened, we had the game in the bag, so I was over the moon.”
In that game, McNulty scored the Tigers equalising goal in the 67th minute and would immediately be substituted for McMahon who scored the winner in the 75th, and the current captain was full of praise for her predecessor who seems to have found another level to her game this year.
“She’s showcased what an incredible player she is. She got the opportunity last year for Canberra so it’s well deserved to her and she deserves to go again,” she said.
“Having her on our team these past couple of weeks and this entire season has been incredible.
“She’s had a lot of game saving moments for us, so just having her there, it improves everybody’s quality.”
The Northern Tigers face Sydney University in the Sapphire Cup final on Wednesday August 21 at 7:15pm at Valentine Sports Park. Entry is free, or you can tune in via the Football NSW YouTube channel.