Sport
18 February, 2026
United are ones to beat
INNISFAIL United senior men’s team exploded into their Kappa Queensland Cup campaign with an 8-0 demolition of Stratford Dolphins, stamping themselves as early contenders in a one-sided clash at Castor Park, Mourilyan on 15 February.
Innisfail led 3-0 at half-time and then continued the scoring momentum in the second half.
Innisfail’s goal scorers were Jacob Moloney (2), Harrison Corica, Jayden Zecchinati, Jacob Vecchio, Nilua Nickson Iaukou, Kohei Nohara and Kyle McCallum (penalty goal).
The Kappa Queensland Cup is a national knock-out state competition which is open to all Queensland club’s senior teams and serves as a qualifying competition for the Australia Cup, with the top four teams representing Queensland in the national tournament.
This year’s tournament sees a record of 307 teams competing this year making it the largest tournament to date across the men’s, women’s under-18 boys and under-18 girls (youth) competitions and it aims to showcase the talent and passion of Queensland’s football community.
Innisfail falls under the Far North and Gulf region which features Stratford Dolphins, Redlynch Strikers, Mareeba United, Edge Hill Tigers, Marlin Coast Rangers, Southside Comets and Leichhardt teams.
Central Coast, Wide Bay, Whitsunday Coast and Northern regions are part of the Queensland competition.
The men’s competition serves as the qualifying competition for the Australia Cup, with the top four Queensland teams entering the round of 32 as the state’s representatives. The same four teams will continue to compete in the semi-finals and a final of the Kappa Queensland Cup to determine the champion.
In the next round of the Australia Cup, Innisfail United face the Marlin Coast Rangers.
In their first pre-season game, Innisfail United hosted the Redlynch Strikers on 7 February, where the under-23 team claimed a 5-3 victory and the senior men’s team claimed a 7-4 win.
Innisfail United senior men’s coach John Cavanah said the games were played over three 30-minute halves with lots of changes and game time for all players, with the under-23s having an opportunity to gain valuable match fitness.