John Joe Nevin

Mullingar's John Joe Nevin - Olympic Silver medalist

Garrycastle

Garrycastle - Reigning Leinster club football champions

Tullamore RFC

Tullamore - All-Ireland Junior Cup holders

Coolderry

Coolderry - Reigning Leinster club hurling champions

Westmeath ladies

Westmeath Ladies - All-Ireland Intermediate Champions

Wednesday 12 June 2013

ADSL Diary Day 2


Antony Sherlock


Athlone 2 Waterford 1

After a good nights rest for the players ( I couldn't sleep a wink) we had a light set piece session at the pitch. Nothing too hectic , basically just a walk through. After some food we had some downtime where the players took great delight in seeing how poor I was at Black Ops on the console. In all truth, I was poison. We had our pre match meal and meeting then headed down for our first game against 3rd seeds Waterford. I know I have the scoreline down at the top of the topic but I'm going to put it up again!!

Athlone 2 Waterford 1

Oh sweet Jesus (can I say that? ah yeah I can) what a performance and victory. Tommy, Gudgie, Kevin and I have been working with these players since they were in nappies; well not quite but you get the idea, and I can truthfully say that I have never witnessed the steely focus and determination shown by the group before. 


We had the ideal start. After thirty seconds Harry played a pass to Luke on the right wing. Luke cut inside his marker and fired in an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner. Unbelievable! My normal reaction to an early goal would be , "Oh no". The simple reason being that the normal soccer mentality is to be conservative. Its natural. Was this the case? Not a notion of it. We totally dominated possession with a high tempo passing game. 

Waterford registered their first attempt on target after nineteen minutes. We battered them. On thirty one minutes a Conor Layng pile driver was well saved by the Waterford custodian resulting in a corner kick. Conor Farrell drilled in a perfect cross ( we have a lot of Conors , 4 in fact) but the Waterford defender did well to clear to Conor Layng who just put it back in first time and Conor Lynam headed into the bottom corner of the net. I told you we had a load of Conors. 2.0 up against the third seeds. Jesus where is Jeremy Beadle? We are ranked twenty six (yes 26). 

Now my head is racing. The usual scenarios played out in the head. Will we crumble? When will they get their fifteen minutes of sustained pressure? F£$%in hell ref blow for half time. Eventually he blew the whistle after 35 minutes. Oxygen for me , quickly. Keep believing lads , keep believing. 

The second half started pretty much in the same vein as the first. High tempo passing game from us. We cant keep this up can we? We piled the pressure on. Corner after corner and we just couldnt get the third goal which would have killed the game off. 

We emptied the bench for fresh legs. Down at this tournament every team is entitled to use six out of nine substitutes. Dont get me wrong , we have a SQUAD and not just eleven definates and nine token players. They can all play. ALL of them. Here it is , the Waterford backlash. Their main threat coming from their left winger who is rumoured to be on the international scouts radar. A very good player. A long diagonal caught us a bit square and he outpace our defence and our goalkeeper Jordan (who has been exeptional) just miss timed his tackle and down he winger goes like the proverbial sack of...... Penalty. Oh jaysus. They duly convert. 2.1 

Now what will happen? The head goes into overdrive again. Will they get an equaliser? Or even a winner? With this group of players the answer was a resounding "no". Crunching tackles , vital interceptions , brave running were all in abundance. Come on ref will you blow it up? Will you please blow it up? 

After what seemed like an eternity there it is;the three long shrills that signal the end of the game. The relief. The excitement. The emotion. The tears. Now will they take notice of us? Poor little ADSL with approx 130 players to choose from. Will they? Too bloody right they will!

Come back later this evening for Antony's entry on their other exploits as ADSL booked their place in the 1/4 finals with a 2-2 draw wth NEC and a 2-1 win over Inishowen. ADSL topped their group with 7 points and play Cork at 3.p.m today (Wednesday)

Meanwhile, the Midlands representative side unfortunately suffered defeats at the hands of Limerick and Galway either side of a 1-1 draw with Mayo. Midlands now enter the Shield section of the competition where they will play Carlow at 3.p.m. on Wednesday. 

Monday 10 June 2013

ADSL Kennedy Cup Diary- Day One

Antony Sherlock (Coach)

Day 1

And so it begins! Our final bus journey to the focus of our preparation for the past four years. The Kennedy Cup. Previous journeys have brought us to such destinations as Carlow, Cardiff, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Longford, Limerick, Tipperary and Valetta to name just a few. The mood was very good on the bus with a few of the players trying to say "Irish Wrist Watch" as quickly as they could. Try it with someone- it’s hilarious! There was also another phrase that one player who shall remain nameless and "Gudgie" was caught out with it; but that’s a story for another time. The journey was fine and those who have travelled with me in the past are aware that I NEVER moan about bus drivers or air conditioning on buses....! We stopped at Ferbane and Borrisokane where yours truly won €8 on a lottery ticket. A good omen perhaps?

Soccer players, as we all know, are highly intelligent creatures (pfft) and the topic of conversation turned to an intriguing question posed by Luke Kelly. If conjoined Siamese twins had a baby would he/she have 2 mothers? A well balanced debate ensued which was highly entertaining. Hopefully they talk better on the pitch. We arrived at our accommodation just after 7.30 pm and checked in. Bags deposited it was off to the kitchen where our own miracle worker Norman had prepared beef stroganoff and some sandwiches. Top man is our Norman. A leisurely stroll of the pitches was the next order of business where the lads will be showcasing their talent in the next few days.

At 9p.m. we had a talk delivered by a motivational speaker, Mr Liam Ryan. Many Athlone Town supporters would know Liam as a lifelong supporter. He had suffered one of the worst cases of brain cancer ever diagnosed- Stage 4- the worst grade of cancer. Liam stated: "I probably had stage 44 it was that bad!" He was given a 0.5% chance of beating it. He did. The hairs stood on the back of my neck as he spoke about the countless operations and radiotherapy sessions he endured. His message was simple. "There is always a chance, however small, and never give up". Liam delivers motivational speeches to a vast array of groups. Business people, cancer sufferers, atheletes and is one truly amazing human being.

The players had some downtime then with the majority playing FIFA on the PlayStation. Competition was very high in our apartment and I didn’t even play yet! Monday sees our first game against Waterford at 7 p.m. I cannot wait. As Conor Layng would say: "Hon the town"

 Kennedy Cup

The Kennedy Cup is an u14 competition played between Leagues in Limerick University each June when teams representing all 32 Leagues compete over an entire week with additional competitions for those teams which do not advance in the Kennedy Cup itself. The best young footballing talent in the country will be on show with attendances swelled with scouts from across Ireland and the UK.

The ADSL have been drawn in Group 7 along with Waterford, NEC and Inishowen. Following this evening’s game, they play NEC and Inishowen at 10.30 and 17.00 tomorrow respectively.

The 2013 ADSL Kennedy Cup Squad: 

Oisin O'Meara (St. Francis), Cormac Gavin (Ballinahown), Jonothan Moloney (Ballinasloe Town), Niall Murray (Hodson Bay Celtic), Daniel Heavin (Ballinahown), Conor Lynam (Ballinahown), Luke Kelly (AC Celtic), Harry Cornally (Temple Villa), Conor Layng (Ballinasloe), Brian Derwin (Hodson Bay), Eoin Egan (Hodson Bay), Conor Farrell (St. Joseph's), Nathan Poland (Ballinahown), Ben Cox (Temple Villa), Kevin Loonam (Ballinahown), Cialan Dollard (Temple Villa), Conor Costello (St. Joseph's), Kieran Colclough (AC Celtic), Callum O'Brien (St. Joseph's) and Jordan Nugent (Ballinahown).


Meanwhile, the Midlands Kennedy Cup squad have been drawn in Group 6 alongside Limerick County, Galway and Mayo. They kick off this evening at 19.00 against Limerick County, before playing Mayo and Galway tomorrow at 12.00 and 19.00.


MSL Kennedy Cup Squad 2013

Back Row L to R: Ger O’Sullivan (Manager), Oran Murphy, Aidan Keena, Adam Dodd,
Kevin Fitzgerald, Jason O’Dwyer, Conor Lacken, Oisin O’Sullivan, Cian Johnson,
Dave Maher & Cormac Barry (Coaches)

Front Row L to R: Niall Doran, Lyndon Quinn, Tristan Finnane, Oisin O’Donohoe,
Matthew Rowden, Sean McCormack, Oisin Proudfoot, Ruairi Lewis, Kaelyn Thompson,
Jamie Ballesty.

Missing from photo: James Keyes & Anthony Kavanagh