Irish Street League finals prove big success with 27 teams competing

THERE was a great atmosphere and turnout for the annual Irish Homeless Street Leagues All Ireland finals, at Andy Moore Park, Postal Sports and Social Club, Tallaght, on April 26.

The event continues to grow each year, and this time around there was 27 teams (male and female) from street leagues across the country to participate for a trophy.

Such is the evolving nature of the leagues that a Dublin team didn’t even make the respective finals, with Longford/Mullingar sides contesting the mens, and Limerick teams contesting the womens trophy.

Among those attending on the day were the Republic of Ireland’s national team manager Stephen Kenny, SDCC Mayor Emma Murphy, Father Peter McVerry, a number of local representatives, finals sponsor Amazon Web Services, and Virgin Media News who produced a segment for the news later that day.

Speaking to The Echo, Republic of Ireland football manager Stephen Kenny, a long time supporter of the street leagues, said he was impressed with the quality on display.

“The tempo is much quicker every year, there are some very capable footballers out there.

Homeless World Cup team founder Sean Kavanagh with Ray Daly and Thomas Morgan

“It is a good standard,” he said.

Kenny was first approached by Irish Street League and Homeless World Cup team founder Sean Kavanagh 20 years ago, and sees real value in the ethos of the organisation, which offers people who have endured difficulties in life, a way back via sport and camaraderie.

“Hopefully through the football pyramid there is a way back for them,” said Mr Kenny.

Stephen cited people like Paul Perth as important for the benefits their youth work has in local communities.

“It’s a great initiative here, good atmosphere, all of the players have shown great commitment to be here today,” he said.

Amazon Web Services were at the event, once again as sponsor of the finals.

“We are thrilled to be able to sponsor the annual finals again this year.

“This is always one of my favourite events to attend,” said Joanne Reynolds, Community Engagement Manager AWS.

“The quality of football is top class and it is fantastic to see how the whole community in Tallaght gets behind the teams.”

This year’s Homeless World Cup is in Sacramento, California, which presents logistical challenges in itself due to the distance and costs.

Sean Kavanagh said they will do the best they can in terms of organising a team to get to the US, but at the very least, the men and womens’ teams will compete in a tournament.

The Irish mens coach is Clondalkin native Thomas Morgan, a former Blackburn Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder.

Since Morgan took charge of the team a number of years ago, they have been consistently competitive and won a few trophies.

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