Ringmahon U19s had a season to remember landing two major trophies

It has been an incredible season for Alan O’Callaghan and his Ringmahon Rangers U19 team. 

They went through their league campaign unbeaten and then added the U19 Daly Cup a couple of weeks ago by beating Rockmount 4-1 a Turner's Cross.

O'Callaghan, who has been with most of this group for the last 13 years, is extremely proud of all his players and their achievements on and off the pitch.

"At the start of the season as we assembled the team, we made a few phone calls and were lucky to get a few new players in," he said.

"We went on to sign Keith McCarthy and Sean Murphy for Corinthians, then signed Ben Hease from Douglas Hall and Dara Walsh. Some have League of Ireland experience, all we had to do then was blend the team together. 

"It wasn’t difficult to be honest, as most of them played together with Cork Schoolboys and Cork Youth League teams and the fact they played against one another all their lives meant they blended in like they were always with us in Ringmahon. Our pre-season went well and we felt strong going into the league early days, getting a few wins which is always good to start."

They picked up a few injuries but because they had signed some good players were able to overcome that issue. 

"Even if some weeks we’d only have two or three subs available to us. 

The lads really showed great heart and desire to win game after game, only losing two cup games all season. 

"This really showed the character of the lads. Most of them had won leagues and cups before this season and that experience got us over the line in games that were tight. 

"We’ve won the double this year and that’s twice for some lads like Adam O’Callaghan, Jayden O’Leary, Ciaran Ó Súilleabháin, Shane O’Herlihy and Aaron O’Brien-Towler who also won the double at U16 Schoolboy level.

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"Both Eanna Ó Súilleabháin and myself have been with some of these lads since they were six years old, developing not only their skills on the pitch, but for life off the pitch as well. 

“They’re a great bunch and I think we will see most of them going on to play senior football in the future. We’ve had some wonderful days and I’ve enjoyed watching them develop into great young men and couldn’t be prouder of all of them.

“The parents down throughout the years have been second to none, we couldn’t have asked for a better group, always there to support us on the good days, however, particularly the bad days as well which is more important.

“All in all, it’s been a great season and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything that the league and Cup runs had to offer."