Local primary school teams were well represented at Helensburgh's annual Active Schools football tournament, organised in partnership with Ardencaple FC and sponsored this year by Padrone Restaurant in Helensburgh.

This year’s event took place on two consecutive Monday evenings under the floodlights at Hermitage Academy and, as usual, there was an abundance of skill on display with lots of goals as the teams competed to lift the Active Schools/Caple Cup and Plate.

During the first night, teams representing Cardross, Colgrain, Hermitage, Rhu, John Logie Baird, Lomond, St Joseph’s and an ‘All Star’ team made up of players from various rural schools in the area played in two pools of four with the top two teams from each section advancing to the Cup event the following week, while the remaining four teams competed for the Plate.

Hermitage topped their group with maximum points as St Joseph’s came second with both sides qualifying for the Cup event, while pool two saw Lomond and the All Stars play well in all of their matches to progress to the Cup event.

The Plate competition saw Cardross, Colgrain, JLB and Rhu battle for the silverware with Cardross playing well to defeat Rhu in a tight final.

There was a big cheer when JLB, who worked tirelessly all night, snatched a late goal in the final minute of their match against Colgrain to earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw.

It was Cardross, however, who eventually went on to lift the Plate after winning all of their matches on the night before continuing that form as they defeated Rhu in the final.

Hermitage, Lomond, All Stars and St Joseph’s participated in the main Cup event, playing a round-robin format with first and second place sides meeting in a final with a rampant Hermitage finishing top as they defeated St Joseph’s.

Hermitage stood out during the event, scoring some great team goals and remaining undefeated in all seven of their matches.

Before presenting the silverware and medals to both finalists, Ardencaple FC chairman Craig Holborn thanked all those responsible for contributing towards yet another hugely successful tournament.

In particular, he paid tribute to Martin Caldwell from Live Argyll Active Schools for organising the event, Caple’s committee and volunteers for all their hard work, and the referees on both nights – Euan Birss, Paul Weir and David Holborn.

Craig also thanked all the schools' staff and parents, the players for taking part, and Cara and Milan Nikolic from Padrone for their sponsorship.

Live Argyll's Active Schools coordinator Martin Caldwell commented: “We are absolutely delighted with another successful event.

"Active Schools work in partnership with a number of different community sports clubs in the area in order to create more opportunities for our young people and strengthen pathways from school to community clubs.

"With this particular event it highlights the strong partnership between Active Schools and Ardencaple FC, a club recently awarded the accolade of Legacy status in the Scottish FA Quality Mark Scheme.”