THIS Sunday a Kerry side will play in a National Cup ‘A’ Final for the first time.
St Brendan’s Park U16’s will take to the pitch in Wayside Celtic Grounds, Kilternan Co Dublin to play St Kevin’s Boys from the capital and attempt to make history for Kerry soccer in winning a National Cup Competition.
“Everyone is feeling good, there is a great buzz around the club and everyone is well up for it,” said manager Graham O’Sullivan.
“All the top teams in Ireland are in this competition. We’re in the top two at the moment so it would be nice to be the best team in Ireland for a year. It would be a great achievement for the club,” he added.
“The side have been with each other a few years now so they are well gelled. Also about nine or 10 of them are on the Kerry panel and Jesse Stafford Lacey is an Irish international so we have a very good crop. They make it very easy for me,” said Graham.
Preparations for the final have been going well. They will have their last training session Friday night and will depart for Dublin on Saturday morning, staying overnight in the capital. Two busloads of fans are expected to travel up so there will be great support from town for the decider.
The road to the final began last October when they dished out a 10-0 shellacking to Corbally in Limerick. This was followed by another convincing victory away to Mastergeeha. The Tralee side putting seven past their Killarney rivals.
They then made the trip to Cork to play a decent Charleville side and won 5-0. Another away game followed this time in Offaly to face Birr Town. This game had Roy of the Rovers written all over it; Park found themselves 2-0 down at half time then 3-0 just after the half, they pulled one back, but again fell behind to leave the score 4-1.
With 15 minutes remaining they, incredibly, scored three and with the momentum well and truly behind them they sealed the deal in extra time. (continued below)
The St Brendan’s Park under U16 Squad that will play The National Cup A Final against Na Fianna this Saturday in Dublin. Front from left: Carl Mullins, Stefan Okunbor, Segeun Duyile, Luke Moynihan, Jamie Clifford, Fergal Ryan, Ferdia O’Brien. Back row from left: Graham O’Sullivan (Manager), Sean Collins, Emmanuel Abubaker, Conor Hurley, John Carroll, Sam Tarrant, Simon lonergan, Gary Howard, Tommy Lynch, Kieran Carmody, David Magee. Players missing in the photo, but will also travel are, Andrew Phillips, Jesse Stafford Lacey, Gearoid Savage and Alan McElligott. Photo by Gavin O’Connor
Next up was Park’s first home tie, but this was not going to be any easy ride. They faced traditional Dublin big guns Home Farm, who counted ex-players like Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, Richard Dunne and err… Nicky Byrne from Westlife among their alumni.
Park duly put them to the sword winning the game 1-0. “It was a massive result, no one expected us to win,” said Graham. “They were coming down to win the game, it really shocked them.”
So with that incredible confidence booster they were again on the move this time to Salthill in Galway.
“We went up to Galway to watch them play beforehand so we prepared well,” said Graham.
Park were 1-0 down in the first half, they equalized in the second half and ended up victorious with another extra time goal to put them through.
In the semi-final penalties were needed against Limerick’s Mungret so it’s evident that this side are not averse to a bit of drama.
Traleetoday.ie wishes them the best in bringing home the cup!
Best of Luck to the guys from all at BTS Fitness club. Be great to see another National Cup come to Tralee.