East Kilbride lift South Challenge Cup as boss insists season must still go down as a success despite promotion pain

Mick Kennedy admits East Kilbride’s South Challenge Cup triumph couldn’t soften the blow of their promotion pain, but he insists this season must go down as a successful one for the club.

Kilby were still licking their wounds from the previous week’s pyramid play-off final defeat to Stranraer in extra-time when they travelled to Broadwood on Sunday to take on Kirkintilloch Rob Roy in the final game of the 2023/24 season.

But the Lowland League champions put that behind them to deliver a strong showing, as they ran out 2-0 winners and lifted the South Challenge Cup for the fourth time in their short history thanks to second half goals from Joao Balde and Keir Samson.

With a league and cup double in his first season at the club, Kennedy says although the silverware didn’t provide consolation for not winning promotion, it marked significant progress for the club and provides plenty to build on for next season’s promotion push.

He said: “It’s good to finish the season by winning a trophy but I’m not sure it took much of the edge off the promotion disappointment. If you take the play-offs out of it, it has been a really successful season winning the league, a cup and reaching another cup final as well [they lost to Tranent on penalties in the Lowland League Cup final].

“The boys had a good celebration on Sunday and once everything settles down, we need to reflect on the fact the club hadn’t won the league in five years, there’s been a continuous turnover of managers and players. But we’ve got some solid foundations in place now. The club has been restructured and it is in a really strong position now to move forward.

“We just need to get back to work and put ourselves in the position next season to go for promotion again.