by Mgarr United’s quest for the maiden major trophy was achieved on Thursday with a 2 – 0 win against Hibernians. Coaches Kenneth Costantino & Ryan Vella gave their take on the final and the future. Mgarr United duo Abigail Camilleri & Amber Grech described the achievement on the back of years of disappointment and a season that tested every ounce of resilience.
Decisive Moments
Mgarr United clinched a first title in their story with the final piece of silverware available in this year’s senior honours on Thursday. They downed Hibernians by 2 – 0, in a match where the Greens kicked off with an early goal and never looked hesitant.
Leading the team to their second final under his leadership, Hibernians’ Kenneth Costantino was composed in his assessment of the defeat. Questioned whether he believes Mgarr United punished mistakes, Costantino replied, “I think there is no denying that we made individual mistakes today. We lacked to mark in the corner in the first goal, and we gifted the second goal from our own free-kick.”
At two goals down, Costantino discussed the attempts to throw everything at Mgarr, “We changed the system, players and pushed a lot more in the second half. However, we did not capitalise on two clear chances in the match, contrary to Mgarr’s ability to punish us from mistakes. In a match like this, these are the key moments that matter and that you must take. Perhaps mentally we are not yet ready for these kinds of matches, so it’s a key area for growth.”
Pushed on the decision to change formation after a season of sticking to mostly the same approach and whether he thought about pulling the trigger earlier, Costantino replied, “In the match I needed to substitute players to be able to play a back-four, because the characteristics of the players on the pitch and their form also dictates that decision.”
Casting toward the trend of the season of a 3-4-3 formation, he continued, “Today we didn’t impose ourselves with the back-three in the way that we usually do. In a final, the situation demanded that we change something to push more. At the end, we ended up with five players in attack, we threw everything, but that’s football.”
On the other hand, Mgarr United’s Ryan Vella was understandably elated by the performance of his team. Questioned about the decision to tweak his system for the match, as well as the focus on transition & set-pieces, he replied, “I think in the past two months we focused more on counter-attack because we knew we had strength in our speed in attack, while having a strong defence and midfield. We knew that we had an advantage in a big pitch and against a team who plays open, so we needed to be patient and pick our opportunities. I believe we did that well.”
Asked about routines from the training ground, he finished, “We focused a lot on set-pieces and penalties, it’s a final that could have gone many ways. I am happy to see that everything we trained for, we executed well to get this trophy.”
Asked about leading the team to a maiden title in his first full season in charge in the women’s game, Mgarr United’s Ryan Vella replied, “I think at the beginning of the season we knew that we had a strong squad. However, as everyone knows we suffered big injuries. Still, we had a positive season in the league to get second place. We knew that with all the changes we went through over the summer we would peak late, so our objective was to get this trophy. So, it is a perfect reward to achieve that objective despite all we faced.”
Asked about the balance of the match from a defensive standpoint to clinch this trophy, Mgarr United’s veteran, Abigail Camilleri, replied, “I think as a team we worked hard to stay compact defensively and then we executed the counter-attack well. I think we limited Hibernians to little chances and then it was a matter of taking our own. I believe a final is often determined by those key moments.”
Meanwhile, Amber Grech was elated by the victory, but asked about the midfield battle she replied, “I think we could do better in certain moments to control the match. There were other matches against Hibernians where I think we had more control, but ultimately we did enough in the decisive moments to get there.”
Perseverance & Belief
It was a tale of two teams who came with their own past disappointments, but ultimately there could only be one winner. Having been there since the inception of the women’s team in Mgarr, Abigail Camilleri knew all too well the journey toward this day to lift a first major title.
Questioned whether the belief remained, she replied, “I think I knew that this year we had strengthened in every aspect and that if we kept our focus and kept working hard we could get something. It was not easy, we pushed for the league title until the very end and lost that, but we gave everything for this trophy and it is nice to get that reward.”
Asked about differences in dealing with pressure moments throughout the season, Abigail Camilleri remarked the growth in the team, “I think if we didn’t grow mentally we would certainly have fallen away considering all the injuries we faced. However, I think between the coach and all of the group backing this team, we believed that could get there and we grew this resilience to get this reward.”
While the team fought through despite injuries, including cruciate injuries to captain Brenda Borg and summer signing Veronique Mifsud, one person who was all too familiar with those setbacks and came out punching in the final was Amber Grech.
Questioned about finally achieving this title with the team, after having tasted the bitter defeat of previous finals, as well as working her way back from two cruciate injuries, Grech replied, “I think it is hard to explain the feeling right now. We got to two Knockout finals and lost both. Considering injuries, they are an ugly side of the game, but considering this achievement this year, after everything that happened, I think is a testament to the togetherness in the team.”
The Future
Kenneth Costantino confirmed he will part ways with the team, with the belief of having continued to set up a strong squad for the future since taking over in January of last year. “I think when you are coaching at this level, the important thing is what you leave behind. I feel I am leaving a squad of players between sixteen to twenty years that sets the basis for the future. I hope the club continues to find someone who will invest in the young players.”
The veteran also had hopes for the future of Maltese football, “I hope that the game in Malta continues to promote Maltese youngsters. If we only look at the possibility of quick wins but leave a vacuum behind us, then I don’t understand the real objective of having Maltese football. If we look at the top foreign leagues, the English top leagues, the Italian top leagues, then that there is prestige in winning that at all costs. However, I believe the prestige in Malta should be in our ability to develop young players who can find a future in foreign leagues. We already have great success in this in women’s football, but if we continue to make decisions that close our doors to the future generation, then we are doing ourselves a disservice.”
Hibernians will not only lose Kenneth Costantino from the dugout, but will also be looking toward their squad to name a new captain for the 2025/26 season, as Martina Borg played her final match.
Asked a similar question about the future of the team, now that the first trophy is in the bag, Ryan Vella replied, “I think it’s clear that we have a strong basis and once we have our injured players back we should have a good squad depth again. There are some areas to improve as always, so we will look to strengthen. However, overall I think we are set to keep pushing with a solid foundation that we built this season.”
Mgarr United’s victory in the Assikura Women’s Knockout means that they will contest the Super Cup against Assikura Women’s League champions, Swieqi United, which will be the first between the two. They will kick off season 2025/26 with the opportunity of another new step in the game.
The final domestic title up for grabs in the women’s game is the Assikura Women’s Youth Knockout (U19). Semi-finals will be contested between Valletta and Swieqi United, while Birkirkara will face Hibernians. The fixtures of the semi-finals and the final are still to be announced.
Lead Image: Elise Bajada
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