North Village 1 Devonshire Colts 1 (North Village win 5-4 on penalties)

North Village are now the most successful team in FA Cup history with 12 titles after defeating Devonshire Colts on penalties in a tense final at Flora Duffy Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Goalkeeper Detre Bell was the Village hero after saving Daniel Ball’s penalty in sudden death, allowing Kyler Knights to score the winning spot kick and send the Village supporters into raptures.

Village had taken the lead in the fifth minute in spectacular fashion when Jonté Smith took possession of the ball inside the centre circle and chipped a stunning long-range effort past Jaden Mills-Furbert.

Colts equalised in the 43rd minute when Chemarl Henry got his head to an inswinging free kick by Zuhri Burgess from just outside the box to glance past Bell.

Despite clear chances at both ends, including in extra time, neither side could add to their goal tally with the penalty shoot-out ensuring that Village added to their trophy haul, while Colts’ wait for silverware continues.

Bell, who has won three of the last four finals with Village, declared that it was a well-deserved victory for his side.

“We earned this cup and it just feels real good,” Bell told The Royal Gazette.

“This is North Village’s cup and it’s undisputed and undeniable. I just want to thank my team, they played well, I knew that I had to come up big in moments and that’s just how the dice roll sometimes.

“I knew that Colts had a very good attacking team. I also knew that corners were going to be a big part of my game today, so I made sure I was off my line, coming for punches and crosses.

“I knew if I played my part, we would win. I could always count on Jonté and Jai to score. I was telling them during the penalty shoot-out, ‘don't panic, we’re going to win this FA Cup’.

“These guys ain’t been here before and they’re not used to this. We’re used to this, we came here last year, we came here the year before and the year before that.”

After Bell saved Ball’s penalty, there seemed to be confusion as to who was going to take the decisive kick for Village.

“I was going to take it, but I was so excited, I just didn’t want to go out there and mess it up,” the Village keeper said.

“I spoke to my team-mate, Kyler Knights, a very experienced player. I said, ‘hey, you got it?’ he said, he’s got it so I said, ‘go ahead, take the penalty’.

“That’s what happens, it’s all about trusting your team. My job is to go out there and save the ball and they have to put the ball in the back of the net, so I knew if I saved the one, we’d just get a win.”

Knights spoke of what it meant to him after putting his hand up to score the winner for his team from 12 yards.

“It’s always nice to be winners of the FA Cup, but I couldn’t ask for anything more,” the 31-year-old said.

“I just felt really calm over the penalty and I knew it was going in. We weren’t sure who was going to take the sixth penalty, so I told those guys I’m taking it.

“I was really upset not to be in the first five, but I said I’ll take the sixth one. Once Detre saw me, he realised he was in good hands because I gave him that assurance.

“Also, shout out to Detre for those penalty saves. He looked good on every penalty and put us in the position to be winners.”

Colts coach Ray Jones rued missed opportunities by his players for losing out on their last chance of silverware this season.

“I wasn’t happy with how we dealt with the conditions,” Jones said.

“The game pretty much was a transition game and transition games are anybody’s game. At the end of the day, it was an even game.

“It came down to a shoot-out and in that it’s the luck of the draw. It comes down to who can hold their nerve, two of my players didn’t hold a nerve and one of theirs didn’t.

“Into sudden death speaks volumes of how even the game actually was. I thought in the first 90 minutes aand the second half in particular, we had more than enough opportunities to probably have put this away.

“We shouldn’t have come down to this. But hey, lack of composure at the most crucial moment is what it is.”

Village coach Calvin “Patches” Dill Jr, who won his third FA Cup in row, was pleased to achieve the feat.

“It’s a pleasure making history for myself, family and for North Village,” the coach said.

“It’s great the boys put in a hard shift here and they did what we asked them to do. I want to congratulate my coaching team that’s had my back all season and I think we got what we deserve.

“We dominated most of the game. Colts also had some chances but our keeper came up with some big saves.

“Also, their keeper came up with some big saves. I thought it was a great game for the neutral fan.”

Also writing his own piece of history was Smith, who won the knockout competition with St George’s Colts in 2024, before securing back-to-back victories with Village.

The 31-year-old dedicated the latest success to his late grandfather, Ralph “Gumbo” Bean, who died last year.

“When I came back to Bermuda this was bigger than my wildest dreams,” the forward said.

“To win it back-to-back with my home club and to win three in a row is just amazing. I’m almost speechless in a way, I can’t believe it.

“It’s been a year where I’ve been thinking about my grandfather a lot, how influential he was to Village and how influential he was to me.

“I just kept it in my heart all day and I’m just thankful I could do it for him, for this club and for this community.”

Smith, the Premier Division’s MVP for last season, had a quiet 2025-26.

“Everyone’s going to forget about what happened in the league because all they’re going to remember for the summer is what happened at this FA Cup,” he said.

“It was a tough game. Colts played well and I think it was entertaining for the fans. Thankfully, we came out on top.

“When we came out, Jalen Harvey said ‘Jonté, you’re going to score early today, I feel it’.

“It gave me that extra bit of energy to go out there and say, ‘yeah, you know what, I’m scoring early today’.

“I scored, then Colts got back in the game. I missed the penalty, but as soon as I walked back to my team-mates, they said, ‘don’t worry, we all got you, we’re going to win this regardless of missing the penalty’.”

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Henry 43

North Village: Smith 5

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): J Mills-Furbert 6 — S Robinson 6 (sub: T Eve, 66 5, J Bean-Lindo, 107), J Dublin 6, S Burgess 6, M Isaac 6 (sub: J Paynter, 60min) — J Samuels 6, Z Burgess 7, K Burch 6 (D Ball, 66 6) — S Mitchell 6, C Henry 7, E Darrell 6. Substitutes not used: R Whitter, D Jackson, A Van Duyne, J Paynter, D Davis, S Blair-Paynter. Booked: Dublin, S Burgess, Ball, Bean-Lindo

North Village (3-1-4-2) D Bell 7 — T Williams 6 (sub: K Knights, 82), Q Outerbridge 6, J Harvey 6 — S Spence 6 (sub: L Steede-Jackson, 82) — J Chapman 6, K Scott 6, C Caisey 6 (sub: M Paynter, 106) J Outerbridge 6 (sub: A Dill, 60 6) — J Smith 7, J Bean 6. Substitutes not used: T Tucker, P Smith, K Harrison, K Cann. Booked: J Outerbridge, Bean, Spence, Caisey

Referee: A Majors.