Birkirkara eye treble, Hibs look to end trophy drought as old foes meet in cup final

Birkirkara and Hibernians will contend the 27th edition of the Assikura Women’s Knockout as the old foes of the local women’s game will rekindle their rivalry in Saturday’s final at the Centenary Stadium (kick-off: 18.00).

Regrettably, this important cup final is shrouded in controversy due to the Malta FA and Birkirkara’s refusal to accommodate Hibernians’ plea for a rescheduled kick-off time.

This decision has led to a clash with the examinations of key Hibernians players, casting a shadow over what should be a major appointment in the local women’s game landscape.

The final showdown of the women’s game sees Malta’s dominant force Birkirkara eyeing a domestic treble having already retained the national title while lifting the Super Cup as well.

Led by coach Jose Borg, who is in charge of Birkirkara’s men’s team too, the Stripes women’s team secured their 12th national title despite seeing their record run of unbeaten games in the domestic competitions come to an end, having lost also to Saturday’s opponents Hibernians this season.

They will be representing Malta in the upcoming edition of the women’s Champions League having been granted the UEFA license for the 2024/2025 season.

Back in December, American winger Arianna Del Moral scored twice to inspire Birkirkara to a Super Cup success at the expense of Swieqi – their sixth.

Birkirkara produced excellent statistics in both defensive and attacking phases having scored 87 goals – the league’s best – while conceding just 5 goals across their 23 outings.

They maintained two straight clean sheets in their journey to the cup final, with veteran goalkeeper Tonina Dimech replacing the injured Janice Xuereb, having eliminated Lija Athletic (7-0) and Valletta (1-0), even though the performance against the Citizens left a lot to be desired.

“The Valletta match was a quiet game for us,” Borg admitted to the Times of Malta.

“It was one of our weakest performances this season with our players looking physically tired especially the ones that have been busy with the national team as well.

It has been a long season for us which includes 45 weeks of training having started back in the summer to prepare for the women’s Champions League commitments.”

On the other hand, coach Borg remains confident that his side can step up their level for Saturday’s crunch match, pointing out that this is a very important match to cap a spectacular season for them.

Birkirkara have every right to be upbeat about their chances of beating Hibernians, having won four of their five-season head-to-head meets in this campaign.

The Stripes won the first-round encounter 2-0 before clinching a trio of 3-0 wins in the other three encounters.

“I am expecting a strong challenge by Hibernians as they improved a lot, especially in the second phase,” Borg said.

“We know that they managed to beat us as well and a final is always a final, so this will be a tough game.”

Borg underlined that they will be missing a key player in goalkeeper Xuereb who damaged her ACL during Malta’s last Euro qualifier against Portugal, earlier this month.

Replacing her is former Malta goalkeeper Dimech, born in 1960, who played in the first-ever international game for a Maltese women’s selection back in 2003.

She started her career out at Melita before moving to Birkirkara prior to the 2001/2002 campaign and has won every domestic trophy.

Hibernians, on their part, did manage to stun Birkirkara and delay their title celebrations by a week after a late Kiley Norkus penalty handed the Paolites a narrow victory in their Round 4 tie.

It was one of Kenneth Costantino’s victories against the Top Four teams since he took over as coach of the Paolites in January.

The Paolites bested last year’s fourth place as they finished third with 41 points having won 13 and drew twice.

They scored 58 goals and conceded 30 goals across their 23 league games in this 2023/2024 campaign, managing to keep a clean sheet against Birkirkara as well.

However, coach Costantino is aware of Birkirkara’s threat ahead of Saturday’s final.

“Every game has its own script and a cup final more so,” he said.

“We are expecting a strong and resilient Birkirkara side while knowing that we gave them a run for their money in our last three meetings – I am sure it will be a good game.”

After improving on their season final rankings, Hibernians will be hoping to go one step further from last year’s Knockout edition having lost to Swieqi in the final.

Hibs, one of the most decorated teams in the local women’s game, are chasing their first silverware since the 2016 Super Cup.

Their last success in this competition was in the 2015/2016 edition when they defeated Raiders Luxol in the final.

Asked on which aspects he worked most since his takeover, Costantino said that the tactical principles were their main focus.

“This is the first time I took a team mid-season. However, due to circumstances, I felt I had to help the team,” Costantino added.

“At the time. I knew that the league was nearly compromised, so we worked on finding the most appropriate style of play and setup which suited our players to prepare for the Knockout at the end of the season.”

“We were also hampered by injuries and this did not help our plans. However, the girls gave their utmost and trained hard.

We focused on the tactical principles and on improving confidence on the ball. Yet, we also worked on improving each player individually by addressing weaknesses and bringing out their strengths. I know this team is capable of further growth, but they are responding well and I cannot ask for more.”

This will be the eighth time that Birkirkara and Hibernians will cross swords in the final with the Stripes, record winners with 16 triumphs in this competition, emerging victorious on five occasions.

Their last final meeting dates back to the 2013/2014 season when Birkirkara won 2-1 with goals from Rachel Cuschieri, now at Sampdoria, and Rebecca Chircop.

Featuring for the Stripes was current captain Stephania Farrugia, Alishia Sultana, Gabriella Zahra, Janice Xuereb and Raina Giusti who are still on the books of the team.

On the other hand, another two Birkirkara players appearing in that final were Charlene Zammit and Francesca Chircop, then at Hibernians.

Martina Borg, current Hibernians’ captain, was part of the Paolites’ squad in that game.

ROAD TO FINAL

BIRKIRKARA
Q/F – 7-0 vs Lija Athletic: Sara Saliba x3, Veronique Mifsud x2, Alishia Sultana, Arianna Del Moral.
S/F – 1-0 vs Valletta: Georgiana Mifsud og.

HIBERNIANS
Q/F – 2-1 vs Mġarr United: Natalee Geren, Leah Ayres.
S/F – 1-0 vs Swieqi United: Kayleigh Chetcuti.

LIST OF WINNERS

BIRKIRKARA – 16
HIBERNIANS – 5
RABAT AJAX – 3
MOSTA – 1
SWIEQI UNITED -1