Hehir relishing Kennedy Cup test

Teams are readying themselves up and down the country for the kick-off of the Kennedy Cup, the largest schoolboy soccer competition in the nation.

Teams are readying themselves up and down the country for the kick-off of the Kennedy Cup, the largest schoolboy soccer competition in the nation.
For the last 36 years, the competition has served as a platform for aspiring young footballers, with Roy Keane, Damien Duff and Ian Harte having contested the tournament as youths. Since it began in 1976 it has been dominated by the Dublin sides, with DDSL collecting the cup on 26 occasions. While GAA dominates this region, Clare still lay host to some successful clubs, such as Lifford FC and Avenue United, who claimed their fifth schoolboy title of the season recently.
“We’ve been handed a tough group,” said manager Martin Hehir. “To win it would be beyond our wildest dreams.”
It certainly appears to be a daunting task, having been handed a group featuring Wexford, Roscommon and Inishowen.
“Wexford are predominantly soccer-obsessed,” he further stated. “While we’ve been playing challenge matches here, they’ve been preparing in Portugal and England. That’s the level they’re at.”
Clare kick off their Kennedy Cup campaign against the Leinster side, a squad which features seven players from a Gorey Rangers side who have won 11 out of 12 games thus far this season. This clash also brings back painful memories for this county of three years previously, when Clare lost the Kennedy Cup bowl final after penalties. However, Roscommon endured a poor campaign last year, when they finished bottom of their group with a solitary point, while Inishowen, led by the charismatic Eunan Brolly, haven’t laid a serious siege to this tournament since 2008, when they triumphed over Cavan on penalties to claim the Kennedy Trophy.
On trimming the squad down to the selected panel of 20, Hehir claimed that it was “an incredibly difficult decision”, as they were forced to decimate the 11/12 panel by almost 50%, to meet the competition’s regulations.
“We’ve had about 70 footballers on trial,” he claimed.
“Even though they’ve all been playing at such a high standard, Jamie (Lynch) and I had to make the cut. I have no doubt that the players we’ve selected will perform to the best of their abilities.”
The University of Limerick’s fine array of astro-turf pitches will host the tournament between June 11 and 15.

Clare Kennedy Cup squad: Cathal Guerin (Burren United); Nzube Okoie (Avenue United); Maurice Nugent (Avenue United); Tadhg Connellan (Avenue United); Aaron Kelly (Moneypoint); Adam Cassidy (Ennis Town); Kingsley Makobe (Lifford FC); Joseph McGann (Burren United); Brian Leyden (Moher Celtic); Aidan Griffey (Connolly Celtic); Adam Gilbert (Newmarket Celtic); Hayden Starr (Ennis Town); Leandro De Silva (Lifford FC); Paudie Kelly (Burren United); Ben Egan (St Pat’s); Barry Cotter (Lifford FC); Aidan Kennedy (Connolly Celtic); Sean Kennedy (Connolly Celtic); Ciaran Buckley (Moher Celtic).