For the third time in four years, our youngsters journeyed across the water to Fota Island in Cork for a pre-season camp, spending several days training and engaging in various team bonding exercises together before taking to the field for a highly-competitive and useful friendly against Waterford.
The trip gave the players a chance to meet and interact with our some of our dedicated fans in Ireland – a delegation from our Cork Spurs Official Supporters’ Club addressed the squad on Friday and presented them with a commemorative plaque to mark their visit to the city, while members from Cork Spurs and Youghal Spurs, including several delighted youngsters, came to watch Saturday’s game before collecting autographs and selfies from the team at full-time.
The tour also saw the squad and staff attend a senior League of Ireland match on Friday night as nearby Cobh Ramblers hosted Bray Wanderers, the visitors running out 2-1 winners.
“Seeing another style of football in another country and how it’s played, the players were able to take some bits that they’ll be able to relate to their games and what the future might hold for some of them,” said Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr, who himself hails from Dublin.
“We got to meet the Supporters’ Clubs who were great – Cork Spurs presented us with a lovely plaque which was nice and the boys got the opportunity to go and meet some of the fans as well and just mingle with the young kids, signing autographs and getting selfies. All in all it’s been a great experience.
“From a staff point of view as well, it’s great to be able to spend a little bit more time with these lads over the course of the week and it’s been nice to see their character coming out, not just on the football pitch but off it, whether that was in a padel tournament, a table tennis tournament or going to watch a senior football match here in Ireland. From a social side of things it’s been a really good trip, but also we’ve worked the boys really hard from a training perspective. We had a really tough session on Wednesday and the boys probably went into the game against Waterford feeling slightly leggy which is exactly what you want in pre-season, so overall it ticked all the boxes from a preparation point of view.”