The Academy turned up in large numbers in Listowel on bank holiday Monday. We had 2 U9 teams and 3 U10 teams in the morning session, with some great football played by all 5 teams. We won some lost some and even drew some but everyone enjoyed themselves.
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For the 10’s Conor O Sullivan was on fire in front of goals with Elliot Lynch, Luke Chester, Richard O Gara and Mervyn Shalamba among the goals, with Elliots lob against Killarney Athletic goal of the day. At the other end Andrew Sucaci made some vital saves, with Greg Scanlon, Junior and Jordan Mason passing the ball into midfield with slide rule accuracy. Nathan Gleeson and Richard O Gara tormented the opposition defence down the wings, while Luke Chester and Elliot Lynch did the hard work in the middle of the field. Darragh Moriarty was involved in everything we did right, setting up more goal chances than anyone else. Man of the Day goes to Jordan Mason who did everything he was asked where ever he played, with style.
We had 3 U10 teams on the day and plenty of others put in galant performances for the club. Special mention goes to Eoin and Thomas in goals, Gavin, TJ, Rob and Conor in defence, Reese, Liam, Jack, Aaron in midfield and Karl up front for their outstanding performances.
They weren’t alone of course and others to shine and put in sterling work for their teams were Robert, Destiny, Greg, Michael and Patrick.
The 9’s had Martin Laucher, Colin Doody and the ever reliable John O Connor finding the onion bag with Alan Brosnan and Conor Horan all over the pitch winning tackles. Oisin Tobin, Morgan O Connell and Cormac Clifford also played fantastic on the day. Graham Sheehy, Nathan Moriarty/O Shea, Dan Fisher and Jack Twamley defended like demons clearing the danger.
The afternoon saw the younger boys take to the field. For the U6/7’s a Mark Gazi double saw off Abbeyfeale, while Jack Slattery hit the post after lobbing the keeper. Sean Twoumey and Rory Clifford ran their legs off and Alex McGrath, Tieran O Sullivan and Jamie Williams found the net.
The U8’s played on the big pitches and they thrived on it with Sean O Connor and Fionan Egan finding the net against Ballingarry and Cillian Murphy making saves with every part of his body. Conor Kerins was a powerhouse in midfield along with Donnacha Sayers who was carrying an injury into the blitz but you wouldn’t think it the way he tackled. Liam Carmody, Adam Murphy and Edward Sheehy with 4 were among the goals in one game.
Special thanks to coach Pat Carmody for cutting short his weekend away to guide our boys to wins over Listowel Celtic who of course are his hometown club. Pat’s old team mates weren’t too happy, but luckily for us, the Park are now his club!
Well done to all that played and helped out coaching, it was great to see the club so well represented on a bank holiday Monday with so much else going on. A big thank you to Listowel Celtic’s Mikey Kelliher, Brendan Hogan and Jimmy Canty for the invite, it really is a highlight of the Academy year.
Academy again next Saturday as we wind down to the end of season presentation and fun day on the 26th of May.
Don’t forget the clubs ‘NIGHT AT THE DOGS’ on next Saturday night, tickets on sale at the Academy on Saturday and on the night. Bouncy castles, facepainting, spot prizes etc … on the night. Also don’t forget to collect your free ticket if you returned your Park fundraising card full, also this Saturday.
