Hondermarck comes of age in toughest test
IT’S been a memorable few months for Drogheda United teenager William Hondermarck and he passed his latest big test with flying colours after coming on as a first-half sub against promotion rivals Galway.
The 17-year-old, in his first season in senior football, scored on his full debut against Shelbourne in the EA Sports Cup back in April and he’s now made six substitute appearances in the league, the most impressive of which was last Friday evening.
The Boynesiders were already on the rack when an injury to Conor Kane forced manager Tim Clancy into an early change, and instead of the more experienced Kealan Dillon or Lloyd Buckley the manager turned to the France native to anchor the midfield with Sean Brennan and Richie Purdy.
Far from being over-awed by the occasion, Hondermarck played with a maturity way beyond his years, passing the ball with precision, having a couple of shots at goal and giving the Drogs an energy and speed in midfield that they had been lacking.
‘It was a good experience,’ Hondermarck reflected afterwards.
‘I’ve been up with them since early on in the season, trying to get in, and I just want to do my best on the pitch and help the team as much as possible.
‘The nerves were going at the start, but once I got on the pitch all the lads helped me.
‘I was at Shels before but didn’t feel I had much chance to get into the first team, Drogheda seemed a good place to go for me and Tim gave me the opportunity. I heard that there were opportunities to get into the team and came up for a trial.
‘I’m living in Dublin right now, but all the lads are helping out with lifts and it’s really easy to get up here, no hassle. It’s a great place to be and a great place to play football and the people are great.
‘I’ve seen the town a couple of times, walking round, and it’s very nice. A lot of people know the players and like the team and there’s a good feeling about the place.’
France-born Hondermarck has been living in Ireland since he was five and from an early age he had an interest in the League of Ireland.
‘I never had any favourite team, but I’ve always watched the Irish League from when I was growing up, like Dundalk in the Europa League putting us on the map and everything, but obviously I’m with Drogheda now and so it’s all about Drogheda.
‘Shamrock Rovers is going to be a really exciting game in the Cup now and we’ll start focusing on that at training on Monday, so we’ll see how that goes.
‘Promotion is an ambition and obviously we’ll keep it in our minds, but that’s far away and we’re going to take every game as it comes and try and get the three points.’
As well as making his mark with the Drogs this year, Hondermarck kept a close eye on his native France in the World Cup during the early summer and cheered them to victory against Croatia in the final.
Explaining his upbringing, he said: ‘My mother was actually born in Congo in Africa and moved to France when she was young and my father was born there, so that’s how they met.
‘I was born in France and moved here in 2005 with my mum and dad. My brother is seven now and was born here in 2010, so he’s fully Irish. I played a bit of schoolboy football with St Kevin’s and Bohs, but both teams split up and I ended up with Shels and now I’m up with Drogheda.
‘I enjoyed the World Cup very much. I was disappointed Ireland couldn’t be in it, but France did me proud and with both my parents basically being fully French there were great celebrations at home.
‘The [Drogheda] lads came up with the French jersey when they won, so there was a bit of banter as well!’