Kerry company forges its own soccer links in England

April 1995

THE Ireland vs England soccer match at Lansdowne Road may have ended as a fiasco but Killarney company, Transmould is certainly doing its bit to establish better footballing relations between the two countries.

Transmould’s footballing initiative took a major step forward at the weekend when a party of 35 members of the company’s social club travelled over to England for an international friendly against parent company, Menvier Swain.

“There was a bit of discussion last summer about having a challenge match and then we got this invitation over from the staff at Menvier Swain to play them so so a team and supporters went over,” said Tony Power who was involved in organising the unusual ‘ international’

Menvier Swain, who like Transmould, make emergency lighting and fire detection systems - are based in Banbury in Oxfordshire and it was there that the Transmould staff travelled to on Thursday evening.

At Banbury United’s pitch, Transmould gave a good account of themselves holding their opponents to a 0- 0 draw while a Transmould ladies outfit defeated their hosts on penalties with Marie Ryan scoring the winner.

The Transmould gents team included: Gearóid Moynihan, Eugene O’Brien, Donal O’Sullivan, John Dennehy, Donal Kelly, Brendan Cronin, Tony Power, Denis Curtin, Tim Crowley, Michael O’Sullivan and John O’Sullivan.

Also involved were subs: Derry O’Leary, John O’Connor, Paul McCarthy, Dan Cooper and Brian O’Connor with international FIFA referee Dermot Gallagher taking charge of the game, the second half of which was played under floodlights.

“There was a bit of a do afterwards in Banbury United’s pavilion and Marie Ryan was presented with a bottle of champagne to mark the ladies victory - the staff at Menvier Swain really looked after us well,” said Tony.

Transmould’s success in getting an away draw was quite an achievement as the company’s soccer team normally only competes in Killarney Athletic’s seven- a- side tournament each summer.

However, those days of just playing just seven- a- side may well be gone following the success of this internastional with Melvier Swain set to come to Killarney in September.