This wasn’t how Walney Central under-16s wanted their journey to end.

It had been a frustrating final season together for the boys from Central Drive, some of whom had been with the club since the start from under-8 level.

Their campaign had been pockmarked by postponements left right and centre due to a lack of players either from opponents or themselves.

This pattern reached a head for their West Cumbria Youth Cup semi-final against Maryport.

The side, who are coached by Neil Henderson, had agreed to rearrange the fixture after Maryport couldn’t raise a team for the original date of the tie, June 23, but when the Cents had a similar problem in build-up to the return on July 14, they found the West Cumbria League weren’t as forthcoming.

Fixture secretary Martin Wilson said: “We kind of got pressured, in a way, into accepting this date.

"As soon as we accepted it, I found out my two lads were away and as the days wore on there were other names dropping out.

“We had Luke Broadbent, who was picked for the England Youth squad and had those two games against France, we had a couple who were injured and some who’ve just stopped playing - it’s been a bit of a nightmare, to be honest.

“There were seven lads who were unavailable for the day."

He added: "I got in touch with the Maryport coach and said ‘we’re going to be struggling for this date now, so can we come up with a new one?’

“He was fine with that, so I got on touch with the West Cumbria League.

“All I got back was basically saying that you can’t rearrange a rearranged game and that once it’s been rearranged once it’s set in stone.

“I just thought that’s a load of rubbish - if the two teams are agreeing on it, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

The final of the competition - between Maryport and Hensingham - will take place on Sunday, September 22.

While it was a sad end for that age group, it has produced some notable talent, with Broadbent on the books at Warrington Wolves and Rio Corkill at St Helens.