ON THE LINE: The Scottish Communities Cup is up for grabs this Sunday at Broadwood (Image: Scottish Communities FA)
Auchinleck Talbot and Largs Thistle will face each other yet again to contest for the newly named Scottish Communities Cup this weekend.
Premier Division champions Talbot will look to build on their recent success with Stuart Davidson’s Theesel hoping to end their season on good note following promotion to the Lowland League West.
This latest cup final meeting will be the clubs’ third in seven years, with the Bot emerging victorious on both occasions clinching the Junior Cup in 2019 and League Cup in 2025.
Hoping to avenge the past heartbreaks, the town of Largs have been showing their support with banners and ticket giveaways going on display building up to Sunday’s encounter.
SUPPORT: Local business in Largs show their colours for the final (Image: Largs Thistle)
Speaking to Now Ayrshire, Thistle striker Will Sewell reflected their journey to the final and what the club means to him.
He said: “Travelling up to Buchanhaven in the last round, it was hard with the wind and you don’t know much about the team you’re up against.
“We managed to take the draw back to Barrfields, and to be honest it was two nil going on a few more.
“The disappointment was going out the other cups early to Greenock and Neilston with league form being inconsistent. But we’ve played after that with focus on getting this final.
“We’ve grown as a club being in the West of Scotland League. I see kids in the town running about in our strips, and I’ve even seen my name on the back of them.
“The whole community gets behind us and a lot of kids do come to the games. It does feel like everyone is together and and everyone knows each other.”
TOGETHER: Largs players and fans embrace after making the final (Image: Largs Thistle)
Conor Boyd has been potent in front of goal for Talbot this season, scoring three goals over both legs in the semi final against Dundee North End, and is expecting a different contest against Largs in the final.
He said: “We played very well the last time we played Largs in a midweek fixture, but we know how hard a game this time around is going to be.
“You don’t get to a final if you’re not a good team, and we know Largs have players that can hurt you. For us, we just need to be focused.”
After coming out of a busy period playing 14 games in just over a month, the Talbot n0.9 highlighted it was relief more than anything they got the end result of a title win.
He added: “We were looking at each game and thinking we can get something out of it. The more games you play, the energy seems to dip a little bit and it does become mentally fatiguing as well.
“The fact we managed to get through it, I was absolutely buzzing for everyone at the club.”
WINNERS: Talbot lifted the Junior Cup against Largs in 2019 (Image: Auchinleck Talbot)
Auchinleck Talbot and Largs both confirmed their places in the Lowland League West as the pyramid reconstruction takes shape for the 2026/27 season.
The sides last met at a final stage in the West of Scotland League Cup in April 2025, when Tommy Sloan’s men lifted the silverware thanks to strikes from Boyd and McAvoy.
Sunday’s game marks the first meeting of the sides in the tournament’s final since 2019 staged at New Douglas Park which saw the Bot lift their 13th Scottish Junior Cup.
North Ayrshire’s Chinese community has marked a major milestone with celebrations for their second anniversary in Irvine. Ayrshire's Lok Oi Association's event took place at the Volunteer Rooms on May 18, and was attended by North Ayrshire Provost Anthea Dickson alongside representatives from the Chinese Consulate in Edinburgh. Guests enjoyed traditional food, music, dance and karaoke as part of the celebrations. The Association was formed following the merger of two local Chinese community groups and is supported by North Ayrshire […]
A major UK review into youth unemployment is raising concern about what it could mean for young people here in Ayrshire. Former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn warns the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training could rise sharply unless urgent action is taken, with entry-level […]
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has issued a wildfire warning covering south west Scotland as warm and dry weather conditions continue. The alert comes into force from today, May 28, with firefighters warning that one spark could quickly spread and lead to serious damage affecting homes, countryside areas and […]
today28/05/20266
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
