The last few weeks have been action packed for the Academy boys, with training sessions aplenty & of course Listowel Celtics end of season blitz on the May Bank-holiday weekend. We had over 80 Park players on the Sunday & Monday in Listowel with each one gaining priceless experience. The 9’s had a great day on the Monday playing the home side, Abbeyfeale, Naas & Mayfield to name a few.
On Saturday we held our Club Open day which ends the Academy’s season with over 250 Park boys taking part in the crossbar challenge, peno’s, target practice, obstacle course & a blitz for the under 11/12’s & 13/14’s, followed by the U16 Cup final between the 16A’s & B’s. Despite the weather being a bit muggy this didn’t dampen the boys enthusiasm & Mike & Philip did a great job on the Barbie with burgers & hotdogs flying off the counter. As always Mary Mc kept the tea, coffee, buns & cakes coming with the Barrys Vanillas a big hit as usual.
At 2.30 it was medal presentation time with each player receiving a medal for all their efforts during the long Academy season. On hand to do the honours were our Ireland Internationals Jessie Stafford Lacey & Shane McLoughlin. Each age group had a Best Attendance award with Sam Slattery U6, Simon Lukco U7, Venis Jahiri U8, Fionan Egan & Lasha Bekauri joint U9 & Cormac Clifford U10 receiving a trophy. In fact Simon Lukco had the best attendance of the whole Academy, missing only 4 Saturdays, well done Simon.
Two goal of the season awards for the under 9’s went to David Feely for his free kick against Naas & Adam Murphy for his individual effort against Abbeyfeale, two goals that wouldn’t look out of place on the Premiership highlights.
Most improved player U10 went to Sean Broderick, U10 Goal of the Season has awarded to John O Connor against Ballingarry, another wonder goal for Johno & Academy Player of the Year went to Jamie Fitzgerald. Well done to all our young stars from under 6 up to under 10. Thanks also to all the Academy coaches for their dedication to the club, without your efforts there would be no Academy, so a massive THANK YOU !!
Thanks also to Terry Healy for the burgers & hotdogs, Louis Byrne for the goodybags each player received at the end & our main sponsor Lee Strand, with Mighty Mikey Milk on hand with a big cheque. We would encourage all our club members to support our sponsors.
See you all in September & we wish all our under 10’s continued success as they move onto the Schoolboys Leagues.
