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Represented Clubs.Today’s game sees nine clubs represented in the Irish Schools

International Squad. They are Cherry Orchard, Cork City FC, Finn Harps,Limerick FC, Mervue United AFC, Salthill Devon FC, Shelbourne FC, Sligo

Rovers FC, and St. Patricks Athletic FC.

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ood evening and welcome to today’s game be-tween our own Under-19 squad here at LimerickFC and the Irish Schools International Team.We would like to extend a warm welcome toOllie Horgan, his backroom team, players, FAISchools officials and the relations of those in-volved, as well as those who have come out toshow their support for the teams. This is a greatopportunity for us here in Limerick, bringingthe Irish Schools to this part of the country.There are a lot of things going on with the IrishSchools and generally they happen in Dublinwith it being the capital city. However, Limerickis the third biggest city in the Republic of Irelandand we are delighted to have this game today. Itis great for the players from the Munster areaand their families to be able to travel here for thematch and I’m hoping that there will be a goodatmosphere. I have a good relationship withOllie Horgan. Ollie is always open to looking atnew players and he has included a number ofour players in his squads over the past couple ofseasons. We are always developing and improv-ing and a lot of our players have been involvedwith the Munster Schools and such in recenttimes. That has given Ollie a chance to look atthem more. Any exposure for Limerick FootballClub is good. We are all pushing for the lads toput themselves in the shop window and showwhat they can do – that in turn can lead to clubscoming to look at our players which may lead tothem playing at a higher level, which is every-one’s ambition. Today, we will have a lot ofyounger lads involved in the first half and older

lads in the second half. We have a few guys intraining with us who are not yet registered toplay in competitive games so this is a good op-portunity to have a look at them against strongopposition. These young lads – where I includethe likes of Evan Cusack, Ross Fitzgerald, SeánMcSweeney and Paudie O’Connor, some ofwhom have not had that much game-time – arethe future of the club. It is a very positive day forthe area to have this game. It is great to see thatOllie is open and willing to bring the IrishSchools team to Limerick. Going forward, wewould hope to get an opportunity to bring theIrish Under-17 squad down which would bemore exposure for us. We have a lot of quality inour Under-19 squad here and hopefully todayeveryone in attendance will get to see the bestof what we have to offer. Enjoy the game.

ManagersNotes.

Matchday notes from Limerick FC U19’s manager, Declan Farmer.

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DECLAN FARMER

Nathan MURRAYGavin WHYTEColm MURPHYTony WHITEHEADPaudie O'CONNORMark HOBANNathan KELLYKieran HANLONSeán MCSWEENEYCian O'DONOGHUEJames MCGRATHGavin DILLONMatt KEANEConor MCGUIRERoss FITZGERALDMikey GREEDEvan CUSACKTadhg RYANShane COSTELLOERoss MANNMichael GUERIN

MANAGERDECLAN FARMER

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MaximeKOUOGUMCraig DONNELLANChristopher FLANAGANJoe MCINTYREJonathan CARLINAJ O’CONNORShane WALSHVal FEENEYPeter HEALYPadraic CUNNINGHAMRyan MANNINGAran MCCONNELLPatrick MADDENAntaine Ó LAOÍJack BRADYLiam FLATLEYJack BAYLY

MANAGEROLLIE HORGAN

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IRISH SCHOOL INT.

Maxime Kouogum Colaiste Chairain, Leixlip Cherry Orchard U17sCraig Donnellan Colaiste Chriost Rí Cork CityChristopher Flanagan Saint Eunan’s College, Letterkenny Finn HarpsJoe McIntyre Abbey Vocational Finn HarpsJonathan Carlin Saint Columba’s College, Stranorlar Finn Harps U19s AJ O’Connor Desmond College LimerickShane Walsh CBS Sexton Street, Limerick LimerickEvan Shine CBS Sexton Street, Limerick LimerickVal Feeney Colaiste Phobal, Roscrea LimerickPeter Healy Saint Enda’s College, Galway Mervue UnitedPadraic Cunningham Presentation College, Headford Mervue UnitedRyan Manning Yeats College Mervue UnitedAran McConnell Colaiste Iognaid, Galway Salthill DevonPatrick Madden Saint Jarlath’s College, Galway Salthill DevonAntaine Ó Laoí Colaiste Cholmcille, Galway Salthill DevonJack Brady Saint Anne’s Community College ShelbourneLiam Flatley Balla Community School, Mayo Sligo RoversJack Bayly Salesians College, Celbridge Saint Patrick’s Athletic U19s

PLAYER SCHOOL CLUB

IRISH SCH

OOLS

INTE

RNAT

IONAL SQ

UAD

IRISH SCHOOLS INT.LIMERICK FOOTBALL CLUB

ine Limerick FC Under-19 players were part ofthe 17-man Munster squad which won the In-terprovincial Cup in Donegal on Sunday, 24 Oc-tober last. The tournament – for players born in1996/97 – took place over three days in Let-terkenny, with Munster’s Under-18s seeing offLeinster 1-0, Ulster 3-0 and, in their last game,Connaught 5-2. Ross Mann netted two in thefinal game, while Paudie O’Connor and EvanCusack had netted in the other wins.

Munster manager Frank Kelleher remarked af-terwards: “The Limerick lads are a credit to theclub. They have been fantastic.” The nine Su-perblues in the squad were AJ O’Connor, GavinWhyte, Shane Walsh, Evan Shine, ConorMaguire, Val Feeney, Ross Mann, O’Connor andCusack. Michael Guerin, Mark Hoban andRonan Coughlan had also been selected butwere unable to take their place in the squad dueto prior engagements.

Friday 22 October: Munster 1-0 Leinster.Afteran even opening period, Munster started to getthe upper hand in the second half. Twenty min-utes from time, a Munster corner from Evan Cu-sack to the near post was steered skilfully byPaudie O’Connor to the back of the net, whichproved enough to secure victory.

Saturday 23 October: Munster 3-0 Ulster.Munster – who soaked up the pressure that afine Ulster side put them under – broke thedeadlock on 15 minutes when Ross Mann brokedown the right and played the ball to Evan Shinewho coolly laid the ball off to the Munster No6to finish. In the final quarter-hour, Munster putthe game to bed with Cusack smashing to thenet on 75 minutes before a Waterford Unitedrepresentative added another.

Sunday 24 October: Munster 5-2 Connaught.The final day saw Munster dominate proceed-ings with two fine goals from Ross Mann. To putthis victory into perspective, according to FrankKelleher it was the first time in 18 years thatMunster won the Interprovincial Trophy. Frankwas delighted to lift the trophy. He made specialreference to all the Limerick FC lads that werepart of the 17-man squad. There were nine boysfrom Limerick FC in the squad and three othersthat were selected but couldn’t make the trip.Frank complimented the Limerick FC players’commitment and dedication to the victory. Hedescribed the Limerick lads as role models andgave great praise to the Limerick FC Under-19manager Declan Farmer and assistant managerTommy Barrett for the work and dedicationthey show their players.

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Munster collect Interprovincial Cup.Nine Limerick U19 players present in the cup winning squad.

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Ross Mann in action for Limerick FC U19’s against Longford Town. Photo: Conor Wyse.

Val Feeney, Limerick FC U19’s,taking the free-kick which made it 1-0 v Mervue United.

The Limerick FC U19 starting line-up v Cobh Ramblers. Both photos courtesy of Conor Wyse Photography.

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