A party of 42 which includes 36 under 11 players will leave for Aberystwyth on the West coast of Wales at 4am on Sunday morning. The panel is drawn from 7 ADSL clubs and all are members of the Development Academy. The lads will play in a week long tournament which numbers Steven Gerrard, Shay Given, Michael Owen and Shevchenko as past players.
The idea of entering this competition came about as a direct result of the excellent achievements of Willow Park and Temple Villa in the 2008 Danone Cup with Willow missing out on European glory when they went down to Shelbourne in the final. The ADSL accepted the invitation with the proviso that we could enter two teams in order to include the entire academy.
The ADSL will be based in the University of Wales for six nights and play their games at the excellent Blaendolau complex which boasts 20 immaculate pitches. The competition has a truly international flavour to it, with teams in the various age groups from India, Malta, the Caribbean, USA, Norway, Canada, Africa, England and of course Wales.
The group games will be played on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday with quarter finals & semi finals on Thursday and Finals on Friday. The last two days will be recorded for future transmission on Sky Sports.
The ADSL will enter two squads in both the 11 aside & 8 aside competitions ensuring plenty of football for every player. In homage to Athlone Towns two league Championship winning sides, the two teams will be named Athlone ’81 and Athlone ’83.
The squads are coached by Joe Mc Evoy, Tony Flannery and Athlone Town legend Michael O Connor. Together they have done a great job with this gifted group of players.
A large group of parents and families are also making the trip to support the teams who will proudly fly the flag for Athlone & Ireland.
Full Squad,
Mike Aka, Aidan Byrne, Matthew Darling, Kenny Dolan, Jamie Fahy, Cian Hayden, Eric Kearney, Jason Mc Hugh, Jack Quinn, Chris Reid, Gio Russo, (all Willow Pk),
Killian Bannon, Cathal Callinan, Martin Flannery, Fergal Lennon, Cian Mc Manus, Shane Scally, Mark Shine, (all St Josephs),
Noel Cotton, Ian Fletcher, Simon Keller, Matthew Rafferty (all Ballinasloe),
Evan Dalton, John Drummond, Kevin Fagan, Nicky Kelly, Charlie Mc Mickan, (all St Francis),
Eoin Fox, Gavin Hanly, Cillian Nagle, Lee O Grady, Patrick Sleator (all Temple Villa)
Damien Freyne, Conor Mc Niece, Martin Nolan, (all Hodson Bay),
Cody Mc Loughlin (St Comans),