FAI Festival of Football stops off at Trim
The Festival of Football continued today with Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy calling into Tully Park, the home of Trim Celtic.
The FAI delegation included President Donal Conway and they were greeted when they arrived at the ground by the chairman of Trim Celtic David Tully. Also included among the visiting party was Terry Connor the Republic of Ireland assistant manager.
McCarthy was shown around the club grounds and he proved popular among youngsters and parents who wanted to have their photograph taken with him. He was also in big demand for his autograph before embarking on a number of media interviews.
"Trim Celtic are delighted to be part of the Festival of Football in county Meath," said the chairman of Trim Celtic. "We witnessed what something like this can be like when we won the FAI Club of the Year. It's just a wonderful event in terms of creating an interest in the game and the club and particularly now that we have moved to calandar year soccer it's good to see it here in the middle of the season, it gives the kids a great lift. We're proud to be part of it, proud to be part of soccer in the local area."
He added while the club has carried out big improvements on its facilities more needed to be done.
The occasion was enhanced by the presence of a 140 youngsters who were part of a summer camp run by FAI coaches - and they ensured there was plenty of athmosphere for the visit. Among the coaching contingent was Republic of Ireland international Amanda McQuillan from Johnstown, outside Navan.
The Tully Park event was attended by many well known faces from the locality who are involved in soccer including manager of Drogheda Utd Timmy Clancy and Cian Lee who has been capped for Ireland at various age groups and now is part of the Dundalk u-19 set-up.
The President of the FAI Donal Conway said a club like Trim Celtic was "the fundamental block" upon which the game of soccer is built.
See report from the Tully Park visit in the next issue of the Meath Chronicle