St Patrick's Athletic players and coaches after the LOI Cairdeas Cup Festival at the National Indoor Arena on the Sport Ireland Campus
St Pat’s take part in Cairdeas Cup blitz
ST PATRICK’S Athletic took part in the Cairdeas Cup last weekend.
The competition is a blitz which sees a number of teams across the League of Ireland field down syndrome teams.
Finn Harps would be crowned champions and have won for three of the last four competitions with Dundalk being in second place this year, unable to reclaim their crown from last year.
However, for Pats even being able to assemble a team was a victory in itself and since being introduced earlier on in the year the pool of players within the club has substantially grown.
Head of Community Ian Dunne spoke about the role of the team and future plans for the section.
“We do a lot of work in the community that we don’t shout about. It is important to have football for all.
‘Since I took over in this role this time last year my thing is about making Pats accessible, so whether that’s playing or matchday experience.
‘It’s important for us to be accessible and really have that football for all pieces. St John of Gods is only around the corner from us here, so it’s important for us to make Pats to be accessible.”
The FAI host two blitzes a year for Down Syndrome players, while clubs themselves are able to put on events of their own as seen earlier on in the year when Pats along with a number of other Dublin clubs set up their own blitz for the Down Syndrome team.
Reece Mooney of St Patrick’s Athletic celebrates after scoring a goal Photos by Sportsfile
“Actually I think we were one of the first clubs to host a blitz along with Bohs and Shels. We hope to do that again but expand it. I don’t really think a league as such is needed.
‘The problem with a league is that you’ll have people taking note of scores and league tables. Particularly for our players it’s about taking part and enjoying it. They love the experience over the weekend, everybody got a medal.”
The club has a great working relationship with the Inchicore sports hall and hopes that they will be able to host more blitzes/events in the future.
“It’s down to the clubs themselves to do things. We have to do them ourselves and invite more people and get them involved with the Down Syndrome team.”
The club is always accepting new players and those interested should get in contact with Head of Community, Ian Dunne at Ian.dunne@stpatsfc.com.
The team is also seeking new volunteer coaches with individuals welcome to apply. Any businesses or individuals who would wish to sponsor the team are also welcome to get in contact.
After possessing only a tiny handful of players at the start of the year the team has slowly been growing with now nearly 10 consistent regulars. For the previous blitz in May the club actually had to borrow three players from Dundalk in order to field a team.
The progress is evident to see and the club hopes to expand on that even further in the future.
“We’d love to get to a stage where we have 12-15 consistent players coming down every Thursday. Wexford for example has up to 24 or 25.”
