Mallow Town on the rise with 350 players and four trophies secured at U12 this season

Club started out with 40 players a decade ago and have developed into a soccer hub
Mallow Town on the rise with 350 players and four trophies secured at U12 this season

Mallow Town celebrate their CSL U12 Division 6 success.

AFTER 10 years, Mallow Town FC is thriving. 

They started with 40 registered players in their first season; a decade later and the club now boasts over 350 players across all age groups.

This has been a great season for the North Cork club, and the U12 level seems to be an age group that holds a special place in the club.

Their first trophy won by the club was at U12 Division 3 back in 2014. Since then the club has gained a lot of success but 10 years on and this season the club recently celebrated even more at U12 level.

While it's a huge achievement to win a league title as it shows consistency over a long period, Mallow managed to win four league titles at the one age group. Remarkable going, which club PRO Kieran O'Sullivan is very proud of.

"This past season has seen unbelievable success for the club with our U12s winning four divisions of the Cork Schoolboys League and our U13 team gaining promotion," said Kieran.

"Our U12s competed across four divisions Premier, Division 6, Division 9 and Division 11 and the achievement of winning the quadruple has made everyone so proud and we feel it will help to push the club onto the next level. We never want to see a player leaving the club or not being able to play. 

We will always endeavour to keep kids playing where possible and therefore the decision was made to enter four teams to facilitate all the kids that wanted to play. 

It's quite remarkable but not surprising that all four teams were successful."

Ryan Dunne of Mallow Town clashes with Corinthians Boys Max Hayter during the CSL U12 match at Castletreasure. Picture: Howard Crowdy
Ryan Dunne of Mallow Town clashes with Corinthians Boys Max Hayter during the CSL U12 match at Castletreasure. Picture: Howard Crowdy

O'Sullivan has been involved with the club for the past eight years holding various roles such as coach to many age groups along with his role as PRO since 2020 and he is just one of many who play their role in progressing the club.

"We as a club are always looking for ways to keep our players engaged, in the past we have done a player profile series and in the coming weeks we will be running a series of season reviews.

"The club was founded in 2014 by our current secretary David Howell, who started with 40 registered players in the non-competitive section of the Cork Schoolboys League. Our first foray into the competitive leagues came in 2016 at U12 grade where we won our first title in CSL U12 Division 3. 

GROWING

"We have teams competing across all age groups in the Cork Schoolboys League with some age groups fielding multiple teams and will be represented at U17 and U19 in the Cork Youth League. The club is now at 350 members and growing every year.

"The club has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years including the CSL U12 title, U15 league and cup double, U12 cup winners and numerous promotions including our first youth team who won promotion in the 2022-'23 season. There have been some fantastic National Cup runs too

"It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without coaches, thankfully as a club we have been lucky that this has never been an issue for us and currently we have 50 coaches and are always looking to add more. The club continues to grow year on year with numbers in our academy growing constantly."

The club plays at four locations St Joseph's Road the home of our U12s, Fairfield which caters for our academy, Cork Racecourse and Carhookeal for the CSL and Youth League teams.

"This past season the club was represented on both Cork teams at U12 with four players for Cork United and four for Cork Athletic, who won the SFAI National Shield." 

Cork Athletic was captained by Mallow Town's Charlie McCormack who was also named as Cork Schoolboys Player of the Season.

"Due to the success of the club and with teams competing at the highest level both locally and nationally, League of Ireland clubs are never too far away. Like so many clubs in Cork we have lost players to Cork City, Cobh Ramblers, Limerick and Kerry FC. 

Unfortunately, it is part and parcel of the game but again while we don't like to see our players leave, we would support them in any way we can on their football journey. 

"We also see it as an endorsement of the work we do at the club, the football and the attitude we try to instill in all our players. Long may it continue."

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