Poletti 
The Northern Tigers lifting the Sapphire Cup following their 2-1 victory. Photo: Poletti
After suffering defeat in the inaugural Sapphire Cup final in 2023, the Northern Tigers emerged victorious 2-1 over Sydney University on Wednesday night in a high-intensity contest to claim the 2024 trophy.
After penalty shootout losses in the 2019 and 2022 NPL Women’s grand finals, and the aforementioned 2-1 Cup final defeat to APIA Leichhardt in 2023, the Tigers were finally able to claim a piece of silverware.
Northern Tigers captain Lily McMahon described it as incredible, before praising her teammates and the fans in attendance.
“You girls have just made my season incredible. I couldn’t be [more] grateful for a better group,” McMahon said.
“You made me a better player out there and I hope I did the same for you guys, so thanks for a good game tonight.”
A frantic opening 20 minutes saw end to end action that was mostly dominated by the Northern Tigers, and they were rewarded with the opening goal from a free kick that went in at the far post after a scramble in the goal mouth.
Sydney University looked to hit back almost immediately through Talia Kapetanellis, but her shot would rocket off the post.
University found a leveler before half-time, as Anna Hunt was on the receiving end of a through ball to go one-on-one with Tigers goalkeeper Aimee Hall and Hunt slotted it home.
With the game evenly poised to begin the second half, Sydney University goalkeeper Hannah Callaghan made a monumental error, dropping the ball just outside her box with Bo Burton directly behind her, who capitalised and shoot the ball into the open net to give the lead back to the Tigers.
Callaghan would more than make up for her mistake as she saved a penalty to keep the game at 2-1, and despite some good efforts, neither side was able to find another goal.
Former captain Hannah McNulty said post-game the win was a feeling of relief.
“I feel good. It’s just honestly a relief. We’ve been in contention for finals so many times and it just feels like a big sigh of relief to finally have our efforts all paid off, but I feel over the moon.
“It’s not just about the first grade team, it’s about the whole club. The whole club deserved this. I’m stoked for everyone and everyone involved more than myself honestly.
“It means so much to everyone and I think with every defeat that we’ve had, it’s just given us a little bit more hunger in our bellies to go again. Every time we get knocked down, we just come straight back up and no one gave up hope.”
McNulty has been around the club for a number of years, from the sides promotion to the top flight, to coaching juniors at the club, and is ingrained in the fabric of the Tigers.
She described the experience of winning the Cup as rewarding.
“I’ve seen it from the start, from when our training facilities had horse poo on it, and it was like the facilities were not great, and now we’re just continuously getting better on the field, off the field.
“We just continuously try to be professional in every manner and we know if we just try our best in every way and focus on making everything better by one per cent, it’ll be reflected and I think tonight was just it all coming to the peak of it all.”
With Lily McMahon taking over as captain from McNulty this season, she was full of praise for the current skipper.
“She’s done a great job. Lily is someone that shows her leadership through her effort on the field in her on-field appearance,” McNulty said.
“She captures everything that a Tigers player is about. She continuously works hard, she plays well to make her teammates look good and the reverse effect as well.
“She’s just been great and she’s going to be a captain that is hopefully around for a long time and she’s going to get better and better every season.”
Northern Tigers midfielder Isabel Gomez was named player of the match.