On Saturday the 23rd of May our U-13 footballers headed off over the county bounds to the Kingdom to play a friendly match against Kerry side Glenflesk. We travelled with 24 players, 3 adults and our manager for the day young Conor Leisk. With players being involved in the P1 & C3 leagues and the intensity that goes with it the only instruction for the day was for the lads to enjoy themselves. 

It was agreed between the coaches that 3 periods of 20 mins would be played and we picked the teams to ensure that each player was on the field for 40 mins. We started strongly and after 10 mins we were 5 points up with some great play from our forwards Cian Connolly , Oisin Morris, Liam O’Connor, Shay Dineen, Sean Leisk and Josh Ambrose. We continued to hold the upper hand particularly in the midfield where Sean McCarthy and Colin O’Leary were running the show. After the first 20 mins we led 1-7 to 1-2. 

Changes were made for the second 20 on both sides and the game went up a level. The Kerry boys were wounded from the first 20 and were determined to make amends. It was the turn of our defence to shine in this part or the game with Glenflesk bringing on some U14 players they played a more direct brand of football. Some sterling defensive work from Adam Higgins, Eoin Barrett, Sean Lynch, Evan Cunningham, John Lehane, Oisin O’Brien and Ethan Piggott along with some outstanding goalkeeping from Andrew McCarthy ensured that we would enter the final 20 mins of the game level at 4-9 to 4-9.

The highlight of the last 20 mins was a goal by forward John Buckley who picked up the ball and with a sublime side step crashed the ball to the back of the Glenflesk net. To explain how good the side step was John stepped left and the whole of County Kerry went right. We battled hard with Neill Vaughan, Keith O’Mahony, James Flannery, Jack Walsh, John O’Connell and James Doyle coming to the fore. Maybe the player’s thoughts were on the impending trip to McDonald's in Killarney but we could not close out the game and were narrowly defeated by 3 points in the end.

Overall it was a great day and a clean competitive game. We would like to sincerely thank our hosts Glenflesk for their hospitality and hope that we can return the favour.