Young Terrors in Foyle Cup Triumph

The Dundee United U17s returned from Northern Ireland having won the O'Neills Foyle Cup in Derry on Saturday. The week long tournament was the the perfect pre-season warm up for the young terrors who are preparing for the new Club Academy Scotland season which commences in August.

This season, the U17 squad will consists of players born in 2010 and 2011 and the group will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of last seasons U17 squad who won the Club Academy Scotland Elite Cup. Many players from last season's U17 group, including Jack Anderson, Cohen Leiper and Jamie Forrest, have all been featuring with the first team during pre season.

Led by Alex Cleland and Paul Dixon, who were in fine form across the week with Lewis Mathers and Oliver Mess in top goalscoring form as the team comfortably won every game en route to the final, conceding no goals in the process.

In the final, they overcame Ballymena Youth Academy on penalty kicks after an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Brandwell Stadium with another goal from Mathers and Issac Ayeni grabbing the second on the day.

The young terrors have now returned to Dundee and many will feature in tomorrow's Club Academy Scotland U19 league opener against Rangers at Foundation Park (2pm Kick off).

Speaking of the success in Northern Ireland, Academy director Scott Allison was keen to highlight the support of the academy player sponsors whose input made the trip to Northern Ireland possible:

“It’s been a great week away for the players and the staff as part of the pre-season preparations, and we have to congratulate the boys on their success. It’s been a really positive July for the academy with players such as Keir Gilligan, Charlie Dewar, Jack Anderson, Cohen Leiper, Jamie Forrest and Lorenzo Sassetti all featuring with the first team.

Many of these players enjoyed tournament success with the academy last season, and it’s a great start to season 2026-27 for our U17s with this trip and success in Northern Ireland. The challenge for the boys now is to come back and build on the experiences and learning of the past few weeks and follow in the footsteps of the older boys who have all stepped up and done very well with the first team in the past month.

We also have to thank Fitness Beyond, CGM Bathrooms, Harry Forsyth, Bancon Group and all of our academy player sponsors whose ongoing support makes these experiences possible for our young players.