Three trophies for Moone's U18s

It has been a season to remember for Moone Celtic’s U18’s, with the club recently claiming a treble of trophies at that age grade in recent weeks.

Team manager, Trevor Childs, believes it is an unbelievable achievement, especially considering the large number of games the team had to play in the final weeks of the season.

“I’m so proud of them, what they achieved this season is just unbelievable. I’ve coached them since U10. They’re a phenomenal group of players. Our aim at the start of the season was just to win something. To win a trophy would’ve been a successful season."

With the demanding nature of the final few weeks of the season, Childs admitted it was difficult to get the side up for games.

“The season just kept on rolling. We only lost one game all season, to Maynooth. We won the three trophies in seven days, which is just incredible. Psychologically and physically, that is really tough. It was hard to get the lads up for the games because of the number of important games. We tried to focus on one game at a time, but that was difficult, it was hard to keep the lads focused on that one game at a time.” 

The experienced coach said he felt a large sense of relief after they claimed their first trophy of the season in the cup, and he felt that took away some pressure on his team.

“We were huge underdogs in our first final win. Once we won that the pressure was off but also there was a belief then that we could kick on. We beat a premier team in every single round, and every single round went to penalties. In each of them penalty shootouts, our keeper saved the 4th penalty. The experience of penalties helped us, but we never practiced them in training. When we won our last trophy there with the shield, it was more joy than relief for sure. There was relief now I have to say when we won the league, obviously the league is the one you want the most. We saved our best performance for the shield final win over our title rivals.” 

Many of Childs’ side have already progressed on to play adult football for the club, and he hopes many more will also.

“Nine of that squad are now in with the senior squads. We’ve two teams at senior level. One in the Senior Division and one in Division 2. I feel a huge sense of pride seeing so many of them already playing adult football. I said that at our own internal club awards night, that I am just so proud of the lads. The senior team have won back-to-back promotions and hopefully that success can mix well with our 18’s coming through. It can inspire the next generation, and can help keep all young lads all involved.”