Lions FC showed no mercy in the Australia Cup quarter-finals, blitzing VPL1 side North Sunshine Eagles 4-0 to roar into the final four on Tuesday night.
NPL QLD premiers Lions scored four first-half goals to set the tone in front of a bumper crowd at Luxury Paints Stadium, where they setup a semi-final showdown against either Preston Lions or South Melbourne.
North Sunshine travelled to Queensland on the back of relegation from Victoria’s second tier but in the midst of an unforgettable debut Australia Cup campaign. However, the visitors were no match for a rampant Lions fuelled by two-goal hero Mitchell Hore and his seven-minute brace.
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Finn Beakhurst and Cher Deng were also on target for Lions inside the opening 45 minutes.
Lions, who conquered A-League duo Perth Glory and Melbourne City en route to the semi-finals, have already won the Kappa Pro Series, NPL QLD premiership and the Kappa Queensland Cup in 2026 as they now eye a state quadruple with their sights firmly on a Grand Final triumph.
“At the start of the year, we set some really ambitious and challenging goals as a group, and one of them was obviously to win the league and qualify for the Australian Championships,” Barber said in an interview on the Tier Two Talk podcast before the match.
“[We wanted] to bring the club back onto the national stage and to provide an opportunity and a platform for our players and for our club to showcase what we’re all about and what we’ve been doing domestically and locally.
“It’s something that we really can’t wait to get our teeth into, and we’re excited for the challenge and hopefully, as again, to put on a really good show and show the rest of the country what we’ve been doing,” Barber added.
When are the semi-finals?
The semi-finals are slated for September 8-20.
A-League rivals Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC are already locked in to face each other.
Lions await the winner of Preston Lions-South Melbourne. The two NPL VIC giants meet on Wednesday.
When is the final?
The date for the 2026 decider is still to be determined.