Marnoch Shield 4 Team Tournament
3rd/4th Place Play Off
Sunday 20th July 2025
Kick Off 12.00 Actual 12.01
Meldrum United 10 Kemnay Amateurs 0, attendance 40
19’ 1-0
23’ 2-0
31’ 3-0 (pen)
51’ 4-0
64’ 5-0
65’ 6-0
74’ 7-0
76’ 8-0
84’ 9-0
89’ 10-0
@ McRobert Park (St. Marnans F.C.)
Park View
Aberchirder
AB54 7AA
No Admission or Programme.
Today was the culmination of the inaugural Marnoch Shield 4 Team Tournament, hosted by St.Marnans, at their McRobert Park ground in Aberchirder. It’s just a pitch, but is fully enclosed and has three park benches on each touchline, with a car park behind the goal end, which also had the changing rooms/toilets, with a tea bar set up under a canopy, serving hot and cold food and drinks.
The four teams involved play in the Aberdeenshire Amateur F.A. Yesterday’s games saw hosts St.Marnans beat Kemnay Amateurs 2-0 and Insch A.F.C. beat Meldrum United 5-2, with the final and 3rd/4th placed play off held today. I would have preferred to see the hosts play, especially as they’d made the final, but it made more sense to do the earlier noon kick off, rather than wait until 15.30 for the second game. Kemnay Amateurs are in Division 1 of the league, whilst Meldrum United are two divisions lower, but it soon became obvious that Meldrum had a team of players who are well capable of playing at a higher level than they’re currently at.
It started off quite even and Kemnay created the better of the early chances. Meldrum broke the deadlock after nineteen minutes, quickly followed by a second goal. Just after the half hour mark a penalty made it 3-0 and surprisingly that was the end of the first half scoring. The second half was pretty much one way traffic, with Kemnay struggling with having fewer substitutes available and looked visibly more tired as the game wore on. Goal number four came just six minutes into the half and the goals kept coming. It was just a case of how many they’d get in the end as they ruthlessly cut through the Kemnay defence. When they hit their ninth with six minutes left, it was a case of when, rather than if, they’d reach double figures and sure enough, they scored again in the last minute, with a left footed shot into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box.
Above photos : Meldrum United in Navy, Kemnay Amateurs in Orange/Black.