Cormac Lowry earns call up to Ireland U16s
Former New Oak captain Cormac Lowry has earned a call up to the Ireland U16's squad.
Cormac Lowry looks set to be the next big soccer star from Carlow as he prepares to spend this week in Poland with the Ireland U16’s squad. The 15 year old from Ballinabrana has been quietly making a name for himself over the last couple of years and is finally getting his chance on the international stage when Ireland travel to Poland for two international friendlies starting on Monday.
“He’s over the moon,” said Cormac’s father Mick when asked about it.
“We found out about it last week so he’s been delighted since but we couldn’t really talk about it until the official press release came out. He’s been training away and he’s been up in Abbotstown in Dublin doing sessions in a few different age groups. This is his first real call up so it’s great to see as it’s hard to get into these squads. He started off in New Oak and was in the Carlow Academy and went to the Galway Cup, he was working hard with Davy [O’Connor] and the guys. He’s progressed nicely through the years, and through Waterford he got opportunities with Development Squads. This year the FAI brought in a Pathway Programme so he was at two of those events and got great exposure to the coaches through that. That gave him the opportunity to showcase his skillset in front of them.”
Cormac has shown determination and leadership as he has stepped up the levels.
“The first year was a development year at U14, this is his first competitive year at U15. He’s captain down there this year. It’s brilliant. We’re very proud obviously. He captained New Oak to two league titles at U12 and U13 and then he moved down to Waterford. He’s got goals he’s been setting and one of them was to captain Waterford which he’s doing this year so he’s delighted. One of his main targets on his list of things to do was to get an Ireland selection so thankfully that’s come through. Over the past few weeks he’s been stepping up and been selected with the Waterford U17’s squad. He puts his head down and keeps working and when the opportunities come his way, it’s down to that and the work he’s put in. He doesn’t think he’s made it, he knows he’s still got a lot of work to do. Any game time he gets in an Irish jersey we’ll be grateful for.”
From an early age, all Cormac was interested in was kicking a ball.
“Cormac started walking at 8 or 9 months old and started kicking a football around from then and he’s done nothing else since. He played his Gaelic and Hurling which he loved but as soon as he got the call to go to Waterford, his focus was completely on soccer and since then he’s been doing nothing else. He would have been one of the main players for New Oak all the way up from when he started playing at six years old the whole way up. He knew he had to step up and challenge himself and the obvious choice for him was to go down the League of Ireland route.”
There was no shortage of offers from League of Ireland clubs as he showed his talent.
“He was lucky in that he had offers. He had a brilliant Galway Cup and we received a few calls. He was trialling with CK and Wexford. John Godkin in Wexford would have been very anxious to sign him up and we were close to going that direction but once Waterford came in, the facilities down there it’s very hard to turn it down, it’s a fabulous facility and it’s only 45 minutes from the house so it’s not the end of the world travelling down. He loves it down there. He has a great rapport with the guys down there.”
Cormac’s mother Aoife put up a post on social media congratulating Cormac on his call up, and it was shared by the Carlow Juveniles League with several well wishers commenting, congratulating him. Amongst those was Waterford Senior team captain, Padraig Amond.
Monday, September 22 | Poland vs Ireland, Żary, Poland, KO 4pm*
Thursday, September 25 | Poland vs Ireland, Szprotawa, Poland KO 12pm*
