U19 Programme: Limerick v Shamrock Rovers, 8 November 2014

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Under-19 Programme 2014 Collection Issue 4 | Under-19 Southern Elite Division Series 9 | Fairgreen, Saturday 8 November, 2014, 2pm 1937

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Fa i rgre e n , S at u rd ay 8 N ove m b e r 2 0 1 4 , 2 p m

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LIMERICK FC UNDER 19’s

LIVE FOOTBALL UNDER 19 ELITE SOUTHERN DIVISION LI

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COBH RAMBLERS

Fairgreen, Saturday 29 November 2014, 2pm

FAIRGREEN - ADMISSION: €5 (INCLUDES -DRAW 2 - & PROGRAMME), UNDER-16S GO FREE

MANAGER’S NOTES Good afternoon and welcome back to the Fairgreen for our Southern Elite Division match against Shamrock Rovers. We come into the game on the back of last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Wexford Youths, where two late goals earned us a point.

We changed it up again in terms of the lineup and I thought the boys did well. It was a game played in difficult conditions on the back pitch in Wexford, who are a big, strong, physical side. We gave away two soft goals early on but after that I felt we were the better team and deserved to get the point, even though we were lucky to in the end. Tom Elmes has Wexford well organised and I think they’ll take points off a lot of teams. I keep saying it but we’re very young – they looked a bit older than us. We brought in Shane Lowth and Arek Mamala for their first starts.

We had four injuries to contend with – Shane Walsh, Paudie O’Connor, Killian Brouder and Seán McSweeney. They’ll miss out again today but Killian and Seán are almost ready.

Mark Hoban will go in centre-back again this week and again we’ll make a couple of changes. A couple have done very well in training and they’ll get their chance.

From speaking to people, Shamrock Rovers were unlucky not to get a result against Waterford United – who are leading the division – last weekend. It’s going to be another tough challenge today. I think they will be improved now that the First Division season is over but like us I think they have a mainly young squad although they will probably be more experienced than us. I’m sure they will mix it up week by week. I expect them to do well. It’s a hard league and they’re all tough games.

It’s a very competitive league, in both the Northern and Southern Elite Divisions. You

can see that Bohemians went up from our division and have done well, likewise Derry City and Dundalk who have gone up this year too. In our own division, there are only seven points between ourselves and Salthill Devon, who are second-bottom at the moment. It’s very tight. But that’s good for the league and good for the players who have something to play for every week. We had a points target for the first eight games and we’re on target for that. For us, getting players as much game-time as possible has been a priority and again we made five substitutions last weekend, which we’ve done in every game so far. That will tell you we really are trying to develop and also that we have a good squad. All 20 of our available players have now started a game. How do we know if the players are good enough?

We have to test them against the best and again today will present a good challenge for our squad.

Enjoy the game, Tommy Barrett.

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SHAMROCK ROVERS

TOMMY BARRETT MANAGER

COLIN HAWKINS MANAGER

TOMMY HOLLAND (GK) AREK MAMALA (GK) STEPHEN NOLAN PAUDIE O’CONNOR CONOR MAGUIRE KILLIAN BROUDER EOIN WHELAN CLYDE O’CONNELL VAL FEENEY MARK HOBAN MATT KEANE SHANE LOWTH ROSS FITZGERALD KILLIAN HAYES ROSS MANN SEÁN MCSWEENEY DECLAN CUSACK JAMES DUGGAN JEFF MCGOWAN OISIN KELLY EVAN CUSACK LIAM MCCARTAN JACK LYNCH

MICHAEL KELLY (GK) NATHAN BENSON LEE MITCHELL DARRAGH GIBBONS RICHARD PURDY ALEX WRIGHT SHANE HANNEY BEN HANRAHAN SHANE BOYLE JASON MCCLELLAND CRAIG O’CONNOR THOMAS TIERNAN SEÁN BOYD JACK WATSON DAVID DOYLE MUHANNED BUKHATWA LUCA GRATZER (GK) CONOR DUNNE CIAN KAVANAGH DYLAN KAVANAGH

PL

GD

PTS

1

Waterford Utd

7

13

17

2

Cork City

7

10

15

3

Limerick FC

7

7

14

4

Bray Wanderers

6

2

11

5

Cobh Ramblers

8

1

11

6

Wexford Youths

7

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9

7

Athlone Town

8

-6

9

8

Shamrock Rovers

7

-4

7

9

UCD

7

-4

7

10

Salthill Devon

7

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7

11

Mervue Utd

7

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SHAMROCK ROVERS: U19’S IN PROFILE Welcome to today’s visitors Shamrock Rovers. Below is information on some of their Under-19 players, thanks to ShamrockRovers.ie.

Michael Kelly (Goalkeeper): Former Dunboyne ‘keeper who joined Rovers in 2013. Michael has been a regular in both the Under-19 and First Division teams. Played for Cherry Orchard against Manchester United in the Milk Cup in 2013.

er/defender who is currently an Irish U17 International. Formerly with Templeogue United, where he won three DDSL Premier and two All-Ireland winners’ medals. Also a member of the DDSL Kennedy Cup winning team in 2012.

Nathan Benson (Full-back): Nathan joined Rovers this year after a six-year spell at Crumlin United. He has three Irish underage caps to his credit. Came on as a substitute for Rovers’ first team in a pre-season friendly against QPR. Darragh Gibbons (Centre-back): Darragh played with Templeogue United throughout schoolboy football. He won seven DDSL Premier titles along with three All-Irelands. Also won Kennedy Cup honours in 2012.

Lee Mitchell (Centre-back): Selected for Irish Under-16 home-based squad trip to Scotland.

Lee played for Saint Joseph’s Boys from the age of seven to 16 before joining Saint Kevin’s Boys.

Craig O’Connor (Full-back): O’Connor began his schoolboy football with Cherry Orchard but also had one season at Saint Joseph’s Boys before leaving to join Rovers in 2014.

Jason McClelland (Defender/midfielder): Started out at Rovers and stayed up to Under-13s.

He then played for Templeogue for two years and then Peamount United for a year. Last year, McClelland joined Crumlin United U17s and won the league without losing a match.

Shane Hanney (Midfielder): Versatile midfield-

Cian Kavanagh (Midfielder): Promising and intelligent central midfielder who joined the Hoops’ Under-19s from Saint Kevin’s Boys for the 2013/14 season. Also performed with distinction throughout the season in the First Division.

Richard Purdy (Midfielder): A son of the exLeague of Ireland player by the same name, young Richard also joined Rovers from Saint Kevin’s Boys last year. His first year at the Hoops was a busy one for him in the U19s and First Division team but it has stood well for him.

Alex Wright (Midfielder): Alex’s most recent club was Malahide United where he won the DDSL U16 Premier League. The team were also runners-up in the league and Cup semi-finalists last season.

Shane Boyle (Midfielder): Shane’s previous clubs are Shelbourne, Home Farm and most recently Belvedere. Joined the Hoops’ Under-19s this year.

Ben Hanrahan (Midfielder): Son of former League of Ireland player, Limerick native Peter Hanrahan and a nephew of Joe. Ben joined the Hoops this year after three years at Home Farm.

Played for Lakelands from the age of six to 12.

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CHAIRMAN’S NOTES Good afternoon and welcome to today’s game in the Southern Elite Division of the Under-19 League. I wish to welcome Shamrock Rovers, their staff and players to Limerick for today’s fixture and wish them every success in the season ahead. I’d also like to extend our gratitude to the club on the kind hospitality they showed our first-team players and staff after our last game of the season two weeks ago. Also, I wish to thank Fairview Rangers AFC and all their staff for their kind welcome as always.

Last Saturday, in awful conditions in Wexford, we battled to a 3-3 draw and showed the kind of fight and commitment that wearing the blue jersey should be all about.

The fact that our goalscorers on this occasion have both gained significant first-team experience this term gives me great confidence in the model we have put in place.

Both Ross Mann and Val Feeney offer a great example to their fellow teammates in terms of how they can progress to the senior level but continue to hone their skills at Under-19 level.

The model we have built this structure on is all based on players progressing to the senior team and Tommy and his backroom

staff have recognised this by ensuring that his entire squad has seen significant playing time so far this season. Yes, we want to challenge at the top end of the table but the most important aspect of this team is to develop young players who can become senior players in the next 18 months and grace the blue jersey like Tommy himself did in the past.

On the Academy front, results but more importantly morale and enjoyment levels continue to rise and all the teams are a credit to their parents and their respective coaching staffs. Today we have two teams in National Cup action, our Under-12s managed

by Barry Lynch and our Under-16s managed

by John Grehan and we wish them both the very best of luck.

As always I would like to acknowledge all our fans who have made the effort to come out this afternoon and look forward to your continued attendance throughout the season.

Thanks again for your support and enjoy the game.

Pat O’Sullivan.

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EARLY STAGES MAKE FOR INTRIGUING CAMPAIGN The opening weeks of this season’s newlook Under-19 League suggest a topsy-turvy and intriguing campaign ahead, with just one team remaining unbeaten.

That is Waterford United, who head the Southern Elite Division after seven games.

In the Northern Elite, Dundalk’s 100 percent start has come to a crashing end over the past fortnight with back-to-back defeats by Letterkenny Rovers and local rivals Drogheda United.

The new format of the Under-19 League means much more competitive action for players, particularly those who are making the step-up from the two lower tiers. In Limerick’s division, eight teams competed in last term’s Elite, with Mervue United and Wexford Youths making the jump alongside the young Superblues. Mervue have struggled in the early matches, losing six of seven, but both Limerick and Wexford (sixth) have competed well. Indeed, Tommy Barrett’s side needed a late, late show with goals from Ross Mann and Val Feeney to rescue to a dramatic 3-3 draw at Ferrycarrig Park last weekend.

Waterford, meanwhile, edged past Shamrock Rovers to move two points ahead at the summit, with second-placed Cork City – champions of the first three years at this level – not in action. Limerick are now a point further back in third, while Bray Wanderers – whose only defeat came by the Shannonsiders on their last outing here – are just six points off the top with a game in hand. Just four points then separate fifth

and tenth, with Mervue propping up the table with just one victory to date. There has also been plenty of goalmouth action in the 39 games so far, with 126 goals netted in total, an average of 3.23 goals.

In the Northern Elite – which has ten teams compared to the 11 in the Southern – has produced 104 goals after 32 games, an average of 3.25 goals. It too has proved a very competitive league, where just seven points separate the top seven. Dundalk opened in very impressive fashion, rattling off five straight wins, but two defeats have knocked them off the top. Last Monday’s loss to Drogheda may be more costly after the second-half dismissal of their Republic of Ireland U17 capped skipper Georgie Poynton. Bohemians – who were in Limerick’s division last season – have moved to the summit, with 16 points from their opening seven games, losing just once – incidentally to the young Lilywhites.

Dundalk are a point back in second while Derry City are three points off the Gypsies with a game in hand. That means Drogheda, in fourth, are currently the highest-placed team to drop down from the Elite Division, with the Boynesiders improving considerably under Darius Kierans. Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Shelbourne, who both have games in hand that could move them closer, are still in contention, with Finn Harps the only side yet to register a point. All in all, it makes intriguing viewing, with four series remaining before Christmas.

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