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Chairman’s Welcome. A word from our Chairman, Pat O’Sullivan
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ood afternoon and welcome to today’s Dr. Tony O'Neill Under-19 League Southern Division game against Bohemians. It is a very important match for Declan, his players, backroom team and indeed the club as it presents us with the chance of securing our place in the promotion playoff group. Since last season ended, we have been focussed on finally securing our place in the Elite Division. Hopefully, this afternoon we can take a big step towards making that happen. The players put in a great performance to come from behind against Mervue United last month and record an impressive 4-1 win. Declan and the squad have been working hard over the Christmas break to ensure they are prepared for today’s game, against a Bohemians team who have been in excellent form over the past number of months. Our league season concludes next weekend in Wexford but hopefully by the time that comes around we will have already sealed our place in the next phase. Our Under-19 players have also continued to receive International recognition. Val Feeney, Shane Walsh and AJ O’Connor have been involved regularly with the Irish Schools U18s and Seán McSweeney recently played with the Irish U17 International team. Six of our Under-19 players have taken part in pre-season training with Stuart and the first-team squad over the past week, which is further recognition of the work being done by the club at underage level. We have some very exciting prospects coming through and we hope that they can make their mark in the senior team in the months ahead. Moving slightly away from the football side of
things at the club, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill will be coming to Limerick on Thursday 20 February where he has kindly agreed to assist us with a fundraising event. More details will follow on that soon so keep an eye out in the local media and on our social media pages. We would like to thank the Football Association of Ireland, John Delaney and Martin for agreeing to come to our city and take time out for the club. We look forward to welcoming them. I would also like to take this opportunity to mention Joe O’Mahony who recently passed away. Joe was one of the greatest soccer players ever produced by Limerick. We felt it was appropriate to retire the club’s No4 jersey in his honour and present it to his family. Joe is a rich part of this club’s history and always will be. May he Rest in Peace. Enjoy the game.
PAT O’SULLIVAN
BOHEMIAN FC
MANAGER DECLAN FARMER
MANAGER GRAHAM O’HANLON
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 Nathan KELLY Shane WALSH Kieran HANLON Seán MCSWEENEY Cian O'DONOGHUE James MCGRATH AJ O'CONNOR Matt KEANE Conor MAGUIRE Ross FITZGERALD Mikey GREED Evan CUSACK Tadhg RYAN Val FEENEY Shane COSTELLOE Ross MANN Michael GUERIN
P
TEAM
PL
W
D
L
PTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Mervue United Limerick FC Bohemian FC Wexford Youths Longford Town
11 10 10 11 10
7 7 5 2 1
2 0 2 2 2
2 23 3 21 3 17 7 8 7 5
Mark OSBORNE Ryan HUGHES Reece DUFFY Aaron HENDERSON Lee WHELAN Paddy COLLINS Ryan NOLAN Jake HYLAND Eoin RHODES Adam KELLY Shane MALONEY Jack CAREY Luke KELLY Keith MAHONY Gary NAUGHTON Josh KENNEDY Aaron HARDING Jack MENTON Jamie PHILLIPS Fionn REILLY
FORM
Limerick FC Bohemian FC
WLWWW DWWWL
NEXT FIXTURE
Sunday 26th January, 2pm Wexford Youths v Limerick FC
BOHEMIAN FC
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Managers Notes. Matchday notes from Limerick FC U19’s manager, Declan Farmer.
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ello and welcome to our Dr. Tony O’Neill Under-19 League Southern Division match against Bohemians. Today provides us with the opportunity of securing our place in the promotion playoff group. The last time we played Bohemians, in Dublin in November, is still very fresh in our minds and we are focussed on reversing that result. I watched Bohs play Mervue United last weekend. Mervue won the game 1-0 but that was Bohs’ first defeat since losing to us back in September so they have had a great run in recent months. They are a totally different team to the one that we beat 9-1 at the beginning of the season. They have brought new lads in, they’re a lot more compact at the back and organised in midfield. They have two good lads up front and they have a quick winger in Paddy Collins. They also seem to have good morale going through the group, so we know it will be a tough test for us. But it’s a new challenge for the lads. We have had a couple of practice matches since we last played competitively five weeks ago. We had a good blow-out in those games, which were good for us. We also have six lads up with the first-team squad doing pre-season so they have been tested. All our players were tested before Christmas and after it and they all came back in good shape and kept their fitness up. We’re looking forward to this game. It’s just another game for us and we’ve got to be intent on winning it, as we always are. We will plan and prepare right and hopefully get the desired result. The lads have been doing well in training this week and they are fairly confident
of getting three points. Some players would see it as a big challenge but we’re all looking forward to it and the mood in the camp is good. We said from the start that our objective is to come out on top of the group and that hasn’t changed. We’ll be going into Sunday looking for three points and, whatever the result, we will have the same approach in Wexford next weekend. We know if we can gather six points over the next week that we will have achieved stage one of our target, with the second being promotion. If we do go on to win the Southern Division it will be very well deserved as the players have worked really, really hard. The amount of players we have up with the first team shows the commitment, hunger and desire that these lads have and that’s good for confidence. It also shows how good we have been at developing players and long may that continue. Enjoy the game.
DECLAN FARMER
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Ross Mann in action for Limerick against Longford Town on December 8th.
Cian O’Donoghue about to score with a chip v Longford Town on December 8th. PHOTOS: Conor Wyse Photography.