In what must be one of the most unique events ever staged on the Firhouse Road, Boden created history with 350 members of the ladies football section participating in a continuous game of football that lasted a staggering 13 hours 31 minutes.The first ball was thrown in at 6.59am on Saturday morning with our U15 and U16 players drawing the short straw as the opening act of this historical play.

Thanks to the military planning and the commitment of the mentors EVERY time slot had the required 30 players to ensure compliance with the 15-a-side requirement. Despite the early start the club was not going to let the girls go hungry and Deborah Heavey and Lynn Mulready along with the U13 parents laid on refreshments that were incredible and catered to all tastes. Breakfast, Brunch, lunch – you name it, it was available!

Over the course of the day the pitch side entertainment kicked in with the obligatory Ice Cream and Chipper vans complimenting the evening meal of superb Burgers barbecued to perfection as always by the husband and wife team of David and Liz Mellon along with their many helpers who learned a thing or two about hot BBQ grills!!!!

Every team in the section from U9 to Senior A was well represented and in particular our younger players got their first chance to play on the hallowed turf of PUM.

As the day progressed the excitement grew as we got closer to the magic time. Playlists from the 80’s (class!) alongside the modern stuff (dodgy) blasted out over the PA to entertain the spectators who were treated to excellent football. The quality of football was end to end for every age group despite the size of the pitch for the younger ones.

Our MC’s for the day, Brendan “close to the edge” Moran and Brendan “Darby” Timbs supported by Cathal “not many people know me” O’Toole regaled the crowd with banter and scripts that would not be out of place at the Rose of Tralee.

Finally the countdown to 8.30pm began and on the sound of the horn scenes of sheer jubilation erupted as hundreds of girls stormed the pitch to celebrate being part of something really special.

Section chair Cathal O’Toole outlined the main reason for hosting the event was not primarily about fund raising but more to do with deepening the connection of the girls to both the sport and the club. With many distractions for young people away from sport and high drop off rates among girls in particular it was important the girls saw how enjoyable it was to be part of the game and the club. Feedback since Saturday suggests we went a long way to fulfilling this objective.

The day was rounded off with the raffle results and the winner of the years free membership of Gym Plus Rathfarnham who kindly sponsored the prize was Aisling Coyne

Finally an event like this could not have happened without a Trojan effort on the part of the organising committee led by Stephen “Soupy” Campbell. The brainchild of Stephen he gathered around him a superbly committed group of members who left no stone unturned in ensuring the day would be a huge success so a sincere thank you to:

Role Members
Car Park Pat Conway & Jimmy Walsh
Cash management (collecting sponsorship) Brendan Coyne & Eoin O’Riordan
Raffle Dave Melia, Sarah Reynolds & Catherine Nagle
Masters of Ceremony Brendan Moran & Brendan Timbs
Refreshments Deborah Heavey & Lynn Mulready
Pitch co-ordinators and logistics Colm Bolger, Kieran Rudden & Ken Regan
Photographs and Social Media Cliona Mellett & Mark Magahran

Huge thanks goes to the mentors for getting the turn out from their teams and following up on the sponsorship collections

SPONSORS

We are extremely grateful to our kind corporate sponsors who gave so generously and we would like to record our thanks to them – we would encourage club members to support our sponsors most of whom are either based in our community or connected to the club. They deserve our support

  1. Strictly Sugarcraft
  2. SuperValu Knocklyon and Ken O’Toole
  3. Hunters Estate Agents Rathfarnham
  4. G&E Mortgage and Financial Advisors Tallaght
  5. PUNCH Consulting Engineers
  6. Fanagans Funeral Directors Rathfarnham
  7. permanent tsb Rathfarnham
  8. Buglers Public House Ballyboden
  9. Arena Kitchens
  10. Remax Estate Agents Tallaght
  11. SPARC physiotherapists
  12. Courtville – Matthew Weldon Antique Jewellery
  13. J V Tierney Consulting
  14. Sponsors of our raffle prize Gym Plus Rathfarnham

Club certainly is family especially if the Cunningham sisters are anything to go by!
All 4…Amy 19, Eva 17, Kiara 16 & Leah 14 played yesterday in our Record breaking Footballathon