Match Report: Cardiff Fire 2 - Deeside Dragons D1 4 - Welsh Cup, 1st Leg

MJ Clancy scored the first Dragons
goal away at Cardiff (Photo by Peter Sheffield)

Saturday 20^th September 2025 – Welsh Cup: Cardiff Fire 2 - Deeside Dragons D1 4

The Deeside Dragons D1 team took a big step towards retaining the Welsh Cup with a 2-4 away win over Cardiff Fire down in the Welsh capital on Saturday.

Having been resurrected last year after a 20-plus year hiatus, the Cup is contested over two legs between Deeside and Cardiff, who play in NIHL Division 1 South. This makes it one of the very few occasions that teams from the North and South divisions ever play a competitive fixture.

Deeside won the cup last year by drawing the home leg 5-5 in Deeside and then winning away 9-11 in the return fixture.

Saturday’s game was exactly what you would expect from an important cup tie - with fast end to end action and quite a few penalties.

After a fairly quiet opening, a big scuffle broke out in the 11^th minute that saw six players - three from each side – banished to the penalty box and, in the aftermath of this, MJ Clancy fired the Dragons into the lead.

A second goal followed from Colin Cromie in the very last second of the period and the Dragons went into the first break with a 2–goal cushion.

Cardiff pulled a goal back two minutes into the second period but were unable to build any further on this. 

Deeside had been having more of the play, outshooting the Fire by almost 3 to 1 in the first two periods, and were unlucky not to add to their goal tally by the second interval.

The Dragons’ pressure finally paid off with a goal on 43 minutes from Matty Barlow but Cardiff visibly upped their game and looked more dangerous in the third period.

There was an unfortunate incident on 46 minutes that saw Deeside’s popular enforcer Will Harper ejected from the game for abusive language and, during the ensuing powerplay, Cardiff pulled a goal back to set up a tense last 10 minutes, with the score standing at 2-3.

Despite chances for both sides, the score remained at 2-3 heading into the final minute of the game and then, with just 56 seconds left on the clock, Rhys Edwards scored what could turn out to be a crucial goal for the Dragons.

The resulting 2-4 scoreline means that Deeside carry a 2-goal advantage into the home leg on Saturday, when the destination of this year’s Welsh Cup will be decided.

The second leg of the Welsh Cup takes place at Deeside Leisure Centre this Saturday 27th September, 5.15pm face off.

The Dragons D1 team are at home again on Sunday when they take on Nottingham Lions in a Moralee Division league game, also facing off at 5.15pm.