MONROVIA, Montserrado – The 2016 Liberia Diaspora International Tournament has come to end with traditional club Mighty Barrolle emerging as champions.

The Kanyan Pepper Boys won the title after defeating a fellow first division team, the LPRC Oilers, 3-2 in penalties.

With two of Liberia’s top-flight clubs playing in the final of the competition, it was a match full of enthusiasm, played almost equally by both sides. With the inclusion of Liberian international midfielder Zah Krangar, who played as a guest player on Mighty Barrolle, LPRC had a tough time controlling the possession in midfield.

However, Krangar alone wasn’t enough to stop LPRC from opening the scoring with a goal from Richmond Togba. Despite being a goal down, Barrolle continued to fight for the equalizer with an attacking style of play. The Grand Bassa-based club evened the score less than 20 minutes after Togba’s goal.

With five minutes left in the match, LPRC took the lead with a header from Blamo Nimely, but the goal was controversially wiped off by the center referee who called for an offside, forcing the game into penalties.

Barrolle eventually won after LPRC missed three of their penalty shots.

Second place LPRC was awarded US $250 while the Kanyan Pepper Boys walked away with a trophy and US $500.

With the cost of jersey set around US $150, the cash won by Barrolle came at the right moment, as they continued to struggle for a complete set of jerseys during games. Despite former House Speaker Alex Tyler and Minster Eugene Nagbe’s connection to the club as members of the board, Barrolle has failed claim representation as a professional club. They used two different kits in all of their matches played in the tournament.

However, some administrators blamed the team manager for the jersey mix up in their first match against the Diaspora team.

Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley Jr.