Tribes and North Dublin triumph at the Irish Senior Cup 2026
Last weekend saw the best water polo clubs in Ireland come together for three days of action in Bangor for this season’s Irish Senior Cup.
In the women’s side, Tribes sailed through their group with commanding win’s over Cathal Brugha and Diamonds, while St.Vincents topped their group against North Dublin and Drogheda. Semi finals went the way of the group winners and a repeat of the 2025 final was set between St.Vincents and Tribes
After the first quarter sat 3-1 in favour of Tribes, they kept their command of the final to the very end with a 7-4 win to win the Irish Senior Cup for the very first time in their club’s history.
The men’s side of the Cup, Corrib topped Group A with three tight wins, with St. Vincents topping Group B with two wins. Semi finals saw Corrib face Cathal Brugha and ended in a tight 15-14 win for the Galway club. A Dublin derby between St. Vincnets and North Dublin went the way of North Dublin with an 11-8 win.
The final was a clash of two titans throughout the match. North Dublin took command early on with 5 goals in 7 minutes and ended the quarter 6-1 in the lead. From there, Corrib were on the backfoot and played catch up but couldn’t get any closer than a 6 point gap. The final score of 15-9 saw North Dublin win their first Irish Senior Cup mens title since 2017.
Women’s Team of the Tournament:
Niamh Connery (St. Vincents WPC)
Aoife Hennessy (St. Vincents WPC)
Cliona Colvin (St. Vincents WPC)
Aoife Bundschu (Tribes WPC)
Laura Casserly (Tribes WPC)
Lucy Kelly (St. Vincents WPC)
Zoe O’Brien (St. Vincents WPC)
Women’s Bert O’Brien MVP of the tournament: Zoe O’Brien (St. Vincents)
Men’s Team of the tournament:
Aidan Mullaney (Drogheda WPC)
Austin Murphy (Corrib WPC)
Barry Nolan (North Dublin WSC)
Luka Vuksic (North Dublin WSC)
James Reid (North Dublin WSC)
Matthew Hynes (St. Vincents WPC)
Jame Cope (North Dublin WSC)
Men’s Shane Moraghan MVP of the tournament: James Reid (North Dublin)
Colin Hedderman Young Player of the Year was also awarded to Daniel Egan (St. Vincents WPC)
A big thank you to all our European Aquatics referees, delegates & table officials, President of Swim Ireland Water Polo Adrian Hanna who was in attendance for the presentations of medals and in particular to our Tournament Director, Renato Lopes, Alex Malone and Damian Ball for organising and running the tournament over the weekend.
Officials
European Aquatics referees and Delegates appointed for the tournament:
Alexandros Chatzigoulas (GRE)
Mark Hendriks (NED)
Alex Marquez (ESP)
Antonio Guarracino (ITA)
Tobias Laufer (GER)
Declan McKerr (IRE)
Steve O’Brien (IRE)
Tad Detko (GBR)
Also thank you to our pool providers in Bangor Aurora as well as their staff who were very obliging in making hours available over the weekend and providing assistance when needed.
