Knocklyon U11s shine in the Blackpool Cup

KNOCKLYON recently had two U11s sides travel to England over the Easter break to compete in the longstanding Blackpool Cup.

Over 200 teams competed in the Blackpool Cup as a whole with 32 sides participating in the U11 category.

This was then split into two separate tournaments of 16 with Knocklyon fielding a team in each tournament.

One side reached the semi finals of their tournament while the other won silverware in the shield competition after coming third in their group.

The team had to win a quarter and semi final before emerging victorious in the final thanks to some last minute dramatics, overcoming a 1-0 deficit with less than 10 minutes left in the game to win the match 2-1.

The shield side was able to benefit from some extra support as they had the other Knocklyon team on the sideline cheering them on for their final.

Coach of the semi final winning team Brian Quinn touched on the success of the trip and what the club had hoped to achieve from going over to England.

“These trips abroad from a kids perspective can form some of the core memories for them.

‘We had participated in a couple of domestic tournaments in Ireland and we saw this as the next step we could possibly take while keeping it as manageable as possible for parents.

‘We just wanted to give the kids something that they could really enjoy, I suppose as coaches we remember some of the trips we went on ourselves with the club and it was trying to give that memory back to the kids now that we were so fortunate to have ourselves.”

Quinn also touched on the plans that Knocklyon have for the future for similar trips with another U11 team in the club heading to Germany in the middle of May.

“The idea would be to do more of these in the years ahead. Again we’d be looking at what’s out there and ensures that the kids can compete at a competitive level relevant to their ability.

‘It’s something that the club have been doing for a long time in various age groups with Easter and May being a common time to see trips like that happen. We have one of the girls teams heading off in the next two weeks as well.”

Knocklyon is a massive club with over 1000 children involved and caters to children as young as five years old all the way up to senior men’s level.

“There’s a real pathway for kids to remain in the club throughout their football journey.

‘It’s down to a huge group of volunteers. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes but everyone’s focus is to provide football week in week out for over 1000 people.”