Killorglin Academy firing well

THE Killorglin Club have one of the biggest underage structures in the county with 17 underage teams from Youths down to under-10s and about 80 to 100 from 6 to 10 years of age.

There is a dedicated bunch of people running the academy and they include Tim Collins, Battie Foley, Danny O’Riordan, Sean O’Sullivan, Brian O’Sullivan and Derek George. The club are very proud of the fact that they have a Premier team in every division of the Kerry Schoolboys/Girls League.

They are regularly winning titles at underage level and are very proud of their achievements. There is a huge amount of work involved in running the Academy and the parents of children are lending a helping hand as well.

They all meet up every Saturday and a great friendship exists between them all. With such large numbers of children participating a lot of coaches are required. The club now has three senior sides and with the underage teams doing very well prospects for the future are looking very good.

Looking after young players is one of the big priorities of the club and they are very pleased with their overall underage structure and Academy. The club had three players on the Kerry team that won the Kennedy Cup in 2015 while they are also very well represented on all the Kerry SSE Airtricity underage teams.

The Academy would not have been such a success but for the parents of the children who turn up every week to encourage and support their kids. It is particularly pleasing when some of those young players go on to represent their county or go for trials to cross channel clubs.

Having such a great facility as The Dragon’s Den is a huge asset to the young players as they do all their training there in a safe and friendly environment.