U19 Programme: Limerick v Mervue United, 12 March 2014

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Chairman’s Welcome.

A word from our Chairman, Pat O’Sullivan

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elcome to you all to tonight’s SSE Airtricity League Under-19 Promotion Playoff match against Mervue United, which has been re-fixed from Series 1. I particularly welcome everyone from Mervue United, a team we know well and against whom we enjoyed some great games in the Southern Division of the league.

We have struggled in the playoff group thus far, it’s fair to say, but there are some real positives to take from the games. We have had limited numbers available to us by virtue of the number of Under-19 players who are being called up to the senior squad by Stuart Taylor, and being invited to travel to Spain for pre-season with the first team.

Furthermore, some of our younger players have gained valuable game-time and experience that will stand to them in the future. During the week, Tommy Barrett spoke to the club website and highlighted the importance of this gametime for the younger Under-19 players and I couldn’t agree more.

pact on pitches has meant we have moved recent games back to Aisling Annacotty, and we would like to pay huge thanks to them for their continued support and friendship. Thanks to you for coming out tonight, on a Champions League TV night, to support the club’s rising stars – it’s important to me and most importantly it’s important to them.

Enjoy the game,

A combination of weather and the resulting im-

PAT O’SULLIVAN

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MERVUE UNITED

MANAGER TOMMY BARRETT

MANAGER JUSTIN NEARY

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Nathan MURRAY Colm MURPHY Tony WHITEHEAD Paudie O'CONNOR Mark HOBAN Shane WALSH Kieran HANLON Seán MCSWEENEY Cian O'DONOGHUE James MCGRATH AJ O'CONNOR Matt KEANE Conor MAGUIRE Ross FITZGERALD Mikey GREED Evan CUSACK Val FEENEY Shane COSTELLOE Ross MANN Michael GUERIN Jack LYNCH Paul O’LEARY

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Dundalk Derry City Mervue Utd Limerick FC

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Peter HEALY Eric NEARY James NOLAN Robert CARROLL Paul HEALY Moise ASSOGBA Aaron FRIEL Stephen KILLEEN Richard FAHY Padraic CUNNINGHAM Dean TIERNEY Luke TULLY Gary BAILEY Cian DE LAMPORT Andrew CONNOLLY Michael JAMES John-Miguel SOLIER James HEALY Mattie FLYNN Dillon MURPHY Cian MCDONNELL Michael JAMES Colin BRADY Maccon BYRNE

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Limerick FC Mervue United

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NEXT FIXTURE

Derry City v Limerick FC This weekend: date and time TBC - check limerickfc.ie

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LIMERICK FOOTBALL CLUB

MERVUE UNITED

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Manager’s Notes.

Limerick FC U-19’s Manager, Tommy Barrett

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ood evening and welcome to today’s Under-19 Promotion Playoff match against Mervue United here in Aisling Annacotty. We extend a warm welcome to Justin Neary, his players, backroom staff and everyone who has travelled from Mervue. Tonight, we go in search of our first win in the playoff series and we are confident of achieving that having already beaten Mervue three times during the Southern Division season. At the same time, they made it tough for us in those games, especially in our last meeting in December where we had to come back from a goal down to win in Galway. We will also have a slightly different team this evening compared to those games. That is because a lot of our lads are up with the first team with Stuart.

That is great for them and it shows that our squad is strong. For us, we are looking towards next season with this team. Our lineups in the playoff series are effectively our team for next term, bar one or two players who will be overage. We have a few players who are still only 16.

That includes Jack Lynch who recently made the step-up from the club’s Under-16 squad to make his debut at this level. That is very encouraging for all concerned. The playoff group has not gone to plan as we come into tonight with three defeats from our three games. I felt the 3-0 loss in Dundalk was a flattering scoreline for them. I thought we were well in the game and could have equalised in the second half. Then they scored twice after we had received a late red card. In the second game, I feel that that scoreline may have been in our players’ heads and we didn’t make the best of starts, giving up two goals inside 20 minutes. We recovered well from that but a defensive lapse ended up costing us.

Against Derry last Saturday, we lost to a first-

half goal which was disappointing as we really needed to win that game to remain in with a chance of a top-two finish. However, as always, our main aim is the development of players. The ultimate objective is to see our players progress to the first-team squad and that has happened with a number of our guys over recent times.

While that may take away from the strength of our squad at Under-19 level, it also gives the younger guys a good opportunity to get gametime under their belts and that can only help them going forward. It’s good to blood the younger players and it will be a big benefit to them when we kick-off next season. Tonight is our last home game of the current campaign.

Midway through, we switched our home matches from LIT/St. Nessan’s to here and we would like to thank all at Aisling Annacotty for hosting us over recent months. Thanks also to everyone who has turned out to support us over the course of the season. Hopefully, we can finish positively in our final three outings and look forward to next season with plenty of hope.

Enjoy the game,

TOMMY BARRETT

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