Under 17 captain looks ahead with confidence

THE Kerry under 17 management team officially launched their 2018 season with a get together at soccer headquarters on Friday evening. All the squad are well psyched up for the long campain ahead and are hoping to have a successful season.

The captain of the side is James Rusk who has played all his underage football with Tralee side The Park and he says he is really looking forward to the season ahead and is confident that Kerry can do well in the national competition.

Rusk, who is over six feet tall, will play as centre back and he is planning to get behind his players from here and give them the best advice and encouragement he can. The captain has an advantage above other players as he played with the team last season and that experience will be a big boost for him going into the long season ahead.

“It is fantastic to be given the captaincy of the side and I am looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead. It is difficult to know how we will fare this season but we have a strong squad and we hope to do ourselves justice in the competition.

“We will find it hard against the big clubs like Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, Bray Wanderers and Waterford, but as for the rest we feel we are well capable of taking points from them. We will be hoping to pick up a lot of points at home and we are asking all soccer fans to come to Mounthawk Park and support us for our home games,” Rusk said.

“The support we got last year was great, but let’s make it even bigger this season. I have a big weight of responsibility on my shoulders and I will try and fill the role given to me to the best of my ability. I was vice captain of the Kennedy Cup team three years ago but now I am stepping further up the ladder and now I have a lot more to live up to.

“We have trained very hard and [coach] Billy Dennehy has made us work very hard over the last couple of weeks and it should benefit us for the season ahead. We have a strong squad of 20 players and there will be keen competition for places on the starting line-ups. We will be very strong defensively and while we may not score too many goals we will be very hard to break down at the back.

“We are really looking forward to our first home game against UCD next Sunday and it promises to be a great occasion for the entire squad. All the lads can’t wait for the first game to come and they will be giving everything they can to produce a favourable result in the opening game.

“We have done all the training and preparations and the next step is to try and get a good result in our opening game. The spirit on the training ground has been great and it is now our job to produce the goods on the field of play,” Rusk concluded.