Evans pleased with club’s direction

THE chairman of the club is Robbie Evans and he has been involved in the club for over two decades. He has managed teams over the years and also plays an active role in the maintenance of their facilities.

Evens says he is very happy with the way the club has evolved in recent years and with good young players coming up the ranks he is confident they have a bright future ahead.

“I have been involved with the club for a long time and I am very pleased with the progress we have made in recent years both on and off the field of play. We have got up to Premier A on a couple of occasions in recent years, but we have been unable to stay up there for very long,” he said.

“Looking ahead we want to be playing in the top flight of Kerry soccer and we will be always striving towards this objective. Last season we had three senior teams and a youth and under 17 team so there is a steady flow of young players coming through which augurs well for the years ahead. Our Academy is one of the most progressive in the county and we have teams in every Premier Division of the Kerry/ Schoolboys Schoolgirls League.

“We are also very proud to have a good few players playing with the SSE Airtricity Under 13, Under 15, Under 17, and Under 19 teams. Five years ago we had three players on the Kerry team that won the Kennedy Cup for the very first time.

“I would not consider myself as an unsung hero of the club and while, I pull my weight as best I can, there are many other people who have made a bigger contribution to the club. I am always there to lend a helping hand if the situation arises but it is a big team effort to get everything done. People such as Jim Donna, Tim Carey, Tim Collins, Battie Foley are the real unsung heroes of the club.

“I became involved in the club in 1982 and I fulfilled many roles for almost a decade. Then I emigrated to the UK for a number of years. When I came back I became player/manager of the A side in 1991 and I had great tutors in Tim Carey and Tom Johnson. I played for the team in the years that followed but had to retire in 2001 in one after picking up a cruciate ligament injury.

“Now we have a large catchment area for players with Glenbeigh, Cromane, Beaufort and Keel on our radar. In two years we will celebrate our 50th anniversary and we will have big festivities to mark the occasion. We have been focusing on trying to secure a second playing pitch to meet the demand that our increasing membership is putting on and maybe this might be the year we try to start financing this.

“We are considering entering a fourth senior team in the KDL next season and then we will have to invest in a second pitch. It is not going to be an easy task to finance this project but the goodwill and support is out there and we will be hoping to attain our ultimate aim. Because the club has three senior sides and a huge underage structure one pitch would not be able to cope with the traffic especially during the winter period.

“We are very fortunate that the Intermediate College Killorglin facilitate us with the use of their astro turf pitch The Dragons Den if our field is unplayable. The club also uses it for all their underage and senior team training which is a huge asset to the club.”

CLUB OFFICIALS

Chairman, Robert Evans, Secretary Marie Crowley Cahillane, Treasurers Battie Foley and Mike Carey (Junior), Child Welfare Officer Chloe Evans Committee, Christina O’Brien, Pat Mc Carthy, Mike Griffin, Jerry Kelliher, Mike Lynch, Eamon Foley