Bukidnon Football Association, with its players firing on all cylinders, ripped Davao Regional FA White, 4-0, to become the inaugural Mindanao Cup champion recently at Tionko Field in Davao City.
Striker Kurbe Dairo of Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School (OLLES) had a pair of brilliant assists and then capped off his game-long brilliance with a long-range rocket that more than guaranteed victory in the 40th minute.
The Dairo strike was the culmination of a dizzying three-minute span that saw Bukidnon break a scoreless game open starting in the 37th minute, when Dairo found Cade Sanchez of Del Monte School for the ice-breaker.
A minute later, Dairo again had a hand in the Prince Aseniero goal when he sailed a pass from the corner to the midfielder for a two-nil lead.
Dairo’s strike in the next minute all but wrapped it up for Bukidnon, which will progress to the Luzon Cup in Tarlac aside from winning P30,000 worth of equipment from grassroots football backer Ricky Yanson, the Negros Occidental Football Association (Nofa) president who organized the tournament that followed a nine-a-side format.
Also representing the Bukidnon squad were players from Manolo Fortich Central School, Plantation Elementary School in Camp Philips and Del Monte School.
The Mindanao Cup has a noble objective of identifying and discovering young talents who will play for the national team in the future.
Dairo was later named MVP with teammate Jun Melig taking home the Best Goalkeeper trophy.
Adriel Algador was Best Defender and Aseniero Best Midfielder as Bukidnon won the chunk of the individual awards handed out after the title game.
Jedd Gabriel Ceballos of Mt. Apo RFA was adjudged Best Striker after scoring a total of 14 goals in the entire tournament. Davao South RFA Red and Mt. Apo RFA wound up third and fourth, respectively, in the competition for boys 11 years old and below.