Bella Of The Ball

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ometimes, it was hard to tell if it was football or an outdoor performance of Riverdance.

You could also be forgiven for thinking it might be the 2018 International Tourettes Football Championships.

Yep, there was a lot of leaping, jumping and kicking going on down at the inaugural Matt Kemp Memorial Cup this afternoon. And when it came to the pink-topped punks team, holy, there was a ferocious amount of swearing too.

Which is just how Matt would have wanted it.

Put together by Laura, Lou and Niall to mark the first-year anniversary of the passing of their beloved friend last May, today’s old-fashioned, inter-estate, 7-a-side football tournament provided much entertainment for lovers of good football and even more for fans of slapstick comedy. It also raised a whole chunk of change for Pieta House.

In the end, the final came down to The 7 Bellies and the Greystones City Legends, with the former pipping the latter to the goalpost. Man of the Match was, fittingly enough, goalkeeper extraordinaire, Alex Kemp, who also accepted the Matt Kemp Memorial Cup on behalf of The 7 Bellies from his beautiful niece, Bella-Rose.

Having flown all the way from Spain for the big day, this little five-year-old firecracker wasn’t going to miss a great, big Greystones day out in honour of her dad.

Just to give you a flavour of the kind of towering football skills on offer today, we recorded that final 7-minute match in its entirety.

So, sit back and gasp at the skills, the grace, and that glorious, heartfelt use of the c-word.

The full 169 shots from today are available to download in hi-res for free here. You can also check out Laura, Lou & Niall’s inspirations behind the day here, and you can donate directly to Pieta House here.