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McKenna Hoping Young Blues Win Special Tournament - Ipswich Town News

The new season may officially only get under way tomorrow but the Blues could win their first silverware of the campaign this evening when the U18s take on County Antrim in the final of SuperCupNI, a competition manager Kieran McKenna says is very special to him.

Town have been regulars at SuperCupNI, which was known for many years as the NI Milk Cup, playing at various levels but have never previously won.

McKenna has his own long history with the tournament and is hoping that the Blues youngsters bring back a trophy from his home country.

"That would be nice,” he said. "Obviously there’s some good back history with the Milk Cup. I played in it as a real youngster for County Fermanagh, I played in it for Northern Ireland in a final having beaten Brazil, then we got beaten by the USA in the final, which wasn’t so sweet.

"Then I took the Man United team back there when I was youth team manager a couple of seasons ago to do the challenge match against the Northern Ireland select team, and they’ve carried on that tradition and scored a great goal in it the other night.

"It’s a very good tournament, really special, a really special tournament to me and hopefully the boys out there can finish off the week well tonight.”

The final, which is being played at the Ballymena Showgrounds, is being screened live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website (KO 8pm).

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