Echo Leading Lights Sports Awards 2020: Clondalkin Celtic FC, Club of the Year
By Stephen Leonard
IN A year that saw sports clubs right across the board faced with unprecedented challenges and even the existence of many threatened because of the Covid crises, Clondalkin Celtic FC managed to buck the trend and grow.
Through the hard work of its members, and particularly coaches Mariah Culloty and Jessie Lynch, the club managed to bring on board three new girls teams with their Under 10s and 12s kicking off their first ever league campaigns back in September.
Ann Buckley, Paul Nolan, Wayne Muddiman, Stephen Brennan and Mariah Culloty receive ‘The Echo Sports Club of the Year’ Award on behalf of Clondalkin Celtic FC from David Kennedy, Executive Editor, The Echo, Mayor of South Dublin County, Ed O’Brien, Ian Farrell, South Dublin County Sports Partnership (SDCSP) and Sharon Moylan, Sales Manager, Green Isle Hotel at The Echo 2020 Leading Light Sports Awards presentation in the Green Isle Hotel on Thursday
Coaches Roisin O’Brien, Paul Brennan, John Buckley and Sandra Ennis have also come on board to help ensure that the girls section in the club can continue to flourish.
Indeed, having also fielded an Under 8s girls team, the club is expecting to have a fourth all-girls outfit up and running by the start of the new year.
It is the first time in its 51-year history that the club has full girls teams up and running and it represents a huge step forward for women’s soccer in the Clondalkin community.
Whats more, the feat was made even more remarkable given that Clondalkin Celtic FC already caters for no less than 13 schoolboy teams as a well as an academy for 4-6 year-olds along with a goalkeepers’ academy and three senior sides.
Last Thursday saw the club officially presented with ‘The Echo 2020 Sports Club of the Year’ Award sponsored by South Dublin County Sports Partnership, Green Isle Hotel, AWS and South Dublin County Council.
In what was a historic year for Clondalkin Celtic FC, the club’s newly-formed Under 10 girls team made a winning start to their first league campaign back in September
It capped off a hugely challenging, but rewarding year for Clondalkin Celtic who, earlier this year, received the FAI Club Mark Award.
“Over the last four years we’ve trebled in size, especially when we brought the girls in” said Wayne Muddiman, Chairperson of Clondalkin Celtic
“Mark Connors (FAI Development Officer) came out and gave us a hand to set up the all-girls academy and it just sort of ballooned from there, because there’s no facilities in the area for the local girls.
Clondalkin Celtic’s Under 12s were one of three full girls teams the club got up and running in 2020
“Every couple of months we’re moving from academy to one team, into another team and we’ll be eventually up to four full girls teams as well as all the boys teams we have for the start of January.
“Mariah is there as well and she works with Jessie Lynch who played football over in the States, so to have her experience coming on board as well is great.
“The way she gets involved with the girls and interacts constantly with them, they just took to her really well.
“It’s really good, we’re growing and growing. Even with Covid there, we had to come up with a second team for the Under 8s because there’s that much of a demand in the area.
“But the real pride is receiving this award on behalf of all the coaches, because they’re the ones that put the hard work in day in day out.
“We’re like one big family. We all have our own families and we all work full time, so to put the shift in after hours with all the teams, it’s just absolutely fantastic” he said.
Club volunteer Ann Buckley echoed these sentiments, saying “The coaches never lost their spark and enthusiasm and still go above and beyond for the kids.
“Even during the recent restrictions, we still welcomed new kids born 2016 upwards. The kids would come along to training, all levels were welcomed and they would get full support from their coaches and teammates.
“It really is a fantastic club with lovely genuine people who are all about the local community and the love the kids have for football. There is a great spirit and amazing teamwork from all involved” she said.
By subscribing to The Echo you are supporting your local newspaper Click Here: Echo Online.
