U12s Boys Footballers Road Trip to Monaghan
Fresh from the final round of our Grading Blitzes last Saturday, it was a 7.45am start for a lot of the U12 Footballers on Sunday morning, as 40 (plus a few Mums and Dads) met in a sunny club car park for a trip to An Bhoth Scotstown in Monaghan.
Three U12 teams travelled for the occasion, and we were joined by a bus of our U11s who also had a challenge with our rivals-for-a-day Scotstown, all thanks to Liam Butler, mentor with the U11s, and dad of Conor in our U12 group.
The games in Scotstown were fairly dogged stuff as the U12s faced 3 streamed teams. The Scotstown mentors were very accommodating in finding 3 teams for us, but it meant we would face a couple of fairly large ‘12’ year olds, as they drafted in a couple of their older lads to make up numbers – all by prior agreement, to be fair! Not a bother to our lads though, as they set about their task with the drive and discipline the coaches have come to expect of them. In what were tough encounters – “challenges” being the correct term – our lads came away with 2 very well deserved wins, and one loss. The way they set about the task in front of them was a credit to them, as they managed to minimise An Bhoth’s scoring opportunities at one end while taking our chances at the other.
After our matches, the Boden party were treated to a huge spread of sandwiches, coffee, and juice from our brilliant and accommodating hosts, many of whose lads went on to play at the half-time in Clones. (Any sandwiches left over were wrapped for the bus journey home – where they were devoured).
Onward then to Clones, where Liam Butler’s brilliant organisational skills clicked into further action, as we were waved through Garda barriers right the way up to a car park right beside the ground. After a breath-taking match, the boys were straight onto the pitch collecting autographs, selfies, and 3 gloves (2 Cluxton – signed! – and 1 Conor McManus).
A sing song on the bus on the way home (Spin FM – none of the mentors had ever heard of any of the songs), and by 7pm we were home. A great day out, some impressive football (and not just by the Dubs) and a bunch of tired kids.
Many thanks to our hosts An Bhoth Scotstown for looking after us so well and fielding such a competitive group of lads, and to Liam Butler and Brendan Young for organising it all. A great day all round.
Many thanks to Dave Rusk for the photos. For more photos, see here