By Femi Atolagbe
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Sunshine Stars Football Club have retained Ondo State FA Cup after thrashing Adamimogo FC 4-0, while Sunshine Queens Football Club also demolished FC Unity Ondo City 8-0 to retain the FA Cup they won in 2022.
The FA Cup final encounter between Sunshine Stars and the Cup debutant, Adamimogo decided at the Ondo State Sports complex, Akure, saw Sunshine Stars Forward, Jide Jimoh scoring hat-trick .
While Jide Jimoh added one goal to make it four for the Akure Landlords.
The first half of the encounter had ended in goaless before Jide Jimoh was thrown into the fray in the second half to break the deadlock in the 53rd minute from a beautiful team play.
Jimoh made it two for his side five minutes after to calm the tension of the game for the premier league side,before Chukwudi Stephen increased the tally to three.
Adamimogo made some flashes which was well curtailed by Sunshine Stars goalkeeper in the duration of the entertaining encounter.
Jimoh completed his hat-trick from the spot after he was brought down inside the box to make it four for Sunshine Stars.
Sunshine Stars and Adamimogo FC will now represent Ondo State in the AITEO Cup in the male categories, while Sunshine Queens and FC Unity of Ondo City will represent the state in the female categories.
The Acting Chairman of Ondo State FA, Mr Gabriel Aborowa, while congratulating Sunshine Stars and Sunshine Queens urged more teams to register for the next edition of the FA Cup.
Aborowa said more participating teams in the FA Cup at the state level would lead to exposure of talents at the grassroots.
He assured football club proprietors that the current FA under the leadership of Otunba Dele Ajayi would organise more competition to discover budding talents across the 18 local governments of the state.
According to him, the FA will continue to improve and organise more competition like Governor’s Cup, state league and others, to support the state’s representatives.
Ondo State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Mr Bamidele Ologunloluwa, said he was happy that both state owned teams would be featuring in the FA Cup at the national level.
He said, “Winning the competition will energise the team and It’s a form of motivation for the players and their coaching crew , it means that they can become whatever they target for themselves.
“We won’t take anything for granted, we will continue to train harder, work harder and pray God for more success,” he said.
