Ballymurphy show what can be achieved

On Sunday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest of honour for Ballymurphy Celtic AFC’s 25th anniversary dinner dance in Ballykealy House. It was a fantastic night, and it was great to be invited to such a great event. I was obviously away from Carlow for quite a number of years, so I was very out of the loop when it came to the some of the clubs back home in Carlow, but I was completely taking aback by the story of Ballymurphy as a club. A couple of months ago I was listening to a Carlow soccer Podcast the ‘How is He Podcast’ which is ran by two great names in Carlow soccer, Podge Doyle of St Pat’s Boys and Hanover Harps legend Paul ‘Popa’ Dowling and they had one of the founding members Thomas Doyle on it to give the story of the club. I honestly thought I had misheard when it was said that they had over 330 members in their ranks at the club which is a phenomenal number of players for any Carlow club, let alone a rural club in south Carlow. It is testament to the work of the volunteers of the club to have as many teams playing as they do and catering for so many young kids (230+ kids both boys and girls) and keeping them involved in the sport which isn’t an easy task especially when it comes to costs so there are great amounts of fundraising that always has to be done. For Ballymurphy to do all this while being in the hurling stronghold of Carlow is very impressive and you can’t praise the work being done out there enough.

Of course, Ballymurphy aren’t on their own with the great work they are doing. One thing that has really struck me since I have come home is how much the facilities have improved over the years. When I was younger playing for New Oak we had the Youth Centre as our training place and don’t get me wrong it was so much fun going there every week but I would love to be a kid growing up now seeing what pitches and training areas there are in the county. Throughout the county there are a number of clubs now with fantastic full-size all-weather pitches and grass pitches at their disposal with the likes of St Pats Boys, Vale Wanderers, Killeshin FC and Burrin Celtic to name a few. There are also other clubs who have plans in place already to upgrade their facilities and develop their own all-weather pitches which is brilliant to see.

Seeing all these improved facilities in Carlow is so important for the development for soccer in the area. For years it has been crying out for them and now that clubs have these facilities you can see how the clubs are growing. Some of the clubs are even growing without these facilities though and it is up to the local councils and government across the country to help clubs in Carlow and beyond to develop their own facilities to give these players a place to play soccer. The Carlow League are doing great work behind the scenes to help these clubs and because of that participation numbers are up, and the standard of these clubs is also up. The league has grown so much as a whole from the juvenile section up to adult level and especially so in the girls and women’s section and long may it continue.

We are less than two weeks out from the start of the League of Ireland season, and everything has really ramped up now in preparation for the season ahead. While the results have been disappointing for us so far in the friendlies, we know it is individual errors that is costing us, and they can be easily rectified. Pre-season also has a very unique way of giving false hope or complete doom and gloom for players and fans alike heading into the season. I have been at clubs where we have won most of our pre-season games and gone on to have a very mixed season and likewise had years where pre-season has been difficult results wise but still the season has worked out brilliantly. There is no magic formula for is because if there was, we would all be doing the same. You never truly get a feel for how you are until about five or six games into the season when tackles are full blooded, and crowns are expectant. Teams have a habit of playing lovely free flowing football in pre-season in behind closed-door games or sparsely attended matches but come the opening night of the season all that goes out the window. That little bit of added pressure of it being a game that matters or the crowd getting on the teams back when the lose the ball playing out from the back can change the whole gameplan of a team. Then you see the true measure of a squad and how they cope with that. Pre-season is all about having a base for the year and being ready for the slog of a long hard season. Results in pre-season for us might be difficult so far but I think we are doing some great work to be ready for when it all kicks off up in Sligo Saturday week.

Time will tell if I am right or wrong but hopefully the last ten days or so of pre-season gives us a good indication of being on the right track and hopefully a good season ahead for us awaits.

THE PADRAIG AMOND COLUMN APPEARS EVERY WEEK IN THE NATIONALIST