With the Umbro Kennedy Cup preparations well underway ahead of the June date at the UL, Waterford manager John Furlong has confirmed his squad of 20 players that will represent the Waterford Schoolboy League at the tournament this year.
For the first time in a number of years, the WSFL will be second seeds in the draw that is due to take place in March but that won’t hinder preparations at all and certainly manager John Furlong believes that he has strengthened his squad ahead of the tournament.
TOUGH DECISIONS
Speaking on the announcement of the squad, John Furlong said, “After almost two months of training and playing friendly matches, I’m delighted to be able to finally announce the final squad for this year’s Kennedy Cup which was a difficult selection as always.
“After having this group of players for the past two years, the squad of 20 for Limerick in June will show three changes from last year and I hope that we have improved the squad sufficiently to challenge for the competition in Limerick.
“The big thing for me and my backroom team is that the squad has a vast amount of experience even though they are still at a young age and these boys have competed in both the inter-league competitions at u12 and u13, reaching the National final on both occasions, winning the decider in 2014.
“They also travelled to Derry, to compete in the 2015 and 2016 Foyle Cup and having been beaten in the quarter-finals in 2015, they returned last year to win the competition so the big thing is that these players have a lot of tournament experience.
“Being in the second seeds this year, does mean we could face one of the big guns in the Group stages but to be honest, every game has to be played individually and we will try and win each and every game we play, so the opposition doesn’t really make any difference.
Waterford Kennedy Cup manager, John Furlong, has announced his squad for this year’s tournament which will take place at UL in June.
“I feel on our day we are capable of beating any side we face. We have already played friendlies against a Manchester United selection, Cork and Kildare and this has helped with our build-up which is designed to peak in June 2016.
“We have arranged to high profile friendlies for the end of March where we will travel to Belfast to play Linfield FC on Wednesday 30th March, followed by Club Northern Ireland on Thursday 31st March. These two games will provide a stern test of our ability and will bring us into the final 8 weeks of preparation.
“Our training will now take place every Wednesday and Sunday to allow us to have more contact time with the squad. It is not about getting them fit enough or working them hard, its more about being able to have the time to improve them technically and help them understand how we wish them to play.
“On behalf of myself and the management team of Paul Breslin, Michael Condron, Ollie Keoghan and Craig Dunphy, we would like to thank all of the parents for their help over the last couple of months during the trails and we look forward to preparing a squad that will do Waterford proud in June 2016.”
KENNEDY CUP SQUAD 2016
CARRICK UNITED: Sean Daly
DUNGARVAN UNITED: Kacper Zajac
FERRYBANK: Killian Griffin, Ethan Flynn, William Halpin, Fiachra Knox, Ian Byrne, Victor Maduweise
PILTOWN: Oisin Carroll
JOHNVILLE: Ravelli Kilonda
RAILWAY ATHLETIC: Tireoghan Flynn
SOUTHEND UNITED: David Ogundele, Callum Stringer, Nils Lukaku
ST PAUL’S: Jack G Taylor
TRAMORE: Cian Browne
VILLA: Timi Sobowale, Tega Agberhiere, Rory Furlong, Josh Kelly.
