Soccer stars in the making
THE county’s school soccer coaching scheme saw a great match taking place recently between Davidstown National School and St Patrick’s Special School.
The scheme, which is organised by Cllr John O’Rourke and funded by Wexford County Council, has been running for almost 20 years.
The scheme sees coaches go, on a voluntary basis, to primary schools in the Enniscorthy town and district area.
Speaking to this newspaper about the scheme Cllr O’Rourke said: ‘We have been coaching almost 20 years now and welcomed by all in the community.’
‘We have seen many of our students progress onto county teams winning leagues and cups at local level and coming back to coach with us also,’ he added.
Cllr O’Rourke said Davidstown National School was the third school to engage with the scheme, as was St Patrick’s Special School.
With that in mind it was fitting that St Patrick’s, on a winning streak against formidable opposition, hosted Davidstown in what was a must win for the home team.
A win would have enabled them to retain their unbeaten status.
The Davidstown team, coached by Cllr O’Rourke, had every intention of stopping that run, however, heading into the Easter egg cup.
St Pat’s started brightly with shots from Dylan Larkin but were down 2-0 at the break.
However, Dylan had the scoring boots on in the second half and drew the home team level at 2-2 .
However, there was then controversy as match referee, Conor Murphy, gave Davidstown a doorway back into the game with a penalty 10 minutes from time putting them 3-2 up.
St Patrick’s battled hard to fight back to score three more but by the final whistle Davidstown had managed to secure a 7-6 victory.
‘Great fun was had by all and now St Pat’s must pick themselves up from their first defeat going into the Easter egg cup which they lost to the soccer coaches last year,’ said Cllr O’Rourke.
Everyone involved with the recent game extended sincere thanks for the staff, pupils and parents of Davidstown National School for facilitating a fantastic day.