Fai agm – festival of football 2009

As the final preparations are made in the County for the FAI’s yearly roadshow, Monaghan United have announced a series of events to be held at Kingspan Century Park during the week long Festival of Football.

As with most clubs in the County, Monaghan United will be hosting events aimed to showcase the talent and encourage the further development of soccer in the area.

The timetable for events at the Newbliss Road venue is as follows:

MONDAY JUNE 29 2009

10.00-15.00 FAI Summer Soccer Schools

19.30 Monaghan United Under 20’s –v- Republic of Ireland Deaf
Team


TUESDAY JUNE 30 2009

10.00-15.00 FAI Summer Soccer Schools

19.00 Monaghan United Ladies – v – Irish Combined Colleges


WEDNESDAY JULY 1 2009

10.00-15.00 FAI Summer Soccer Schools

16.00 – 18.00 Monaghan United Mini Leagues –v- Armagh City Mini Leagues. Cross border blitz

THURSDAY JULY 2 2009

10.00-15.00 FAI Summer Soccer Schools

10.00-13.30 Football for All – Soccer Skills Special Needs Programme –
Monaghan Sports Partnership Inclusion Officer


16.00-18.00 FAI Blind Football Workshop

18.30-19.00 Monaghan United Official Opening of new Astro Pitch

20.00 Monaghan United –v- Limerick FC
FAI League of Ireland First Division match.

FRIDAY JULY 3 2009


10.00-15.00 FAI Summer Soccer Schools

16.00-18.00 FREE FAI Intercultural Club Open Day for children aged 6-13

The FAI Summer Soccer School will be running all week starting at 10am on the Monday morning. This is a great opportunity for children interested in football to get some top class coaching and a great FAI Summer Soccer Schools kit.

On the Monday evening, Monaghan United’s Under 20’s team will get their first big challenge in a pre-season warm up match against the highly talented Republic of Ireland Deaf team. This will be fans first time to see the new management team of former Manchester United player Pat McGibbon, who is also assistant manager of Monaghan United’s senior team and Seamus Finnegan, Monaghan United legend and Women’s team manager as they take on their new role of guiding the Under 20’s into the new season. The half time entertainment on the night will be provided by footballers from the Monaghan Special Olympics who have been in receipt of coaching at Monaghan United with coach Ciáran Donnelly.

Tuesday night is Ladies night with the Monaghan United Ladies team taking on the Irish Combined Colleges squad. This game will be highly competitive with the Monaghan United ladies having only started their season and just finding their stride after interruptions for school & college exams but hoping to take the scalp of the Combined Colleges team who recently beat Scottish teams Hamilton Academical Reseves 11-2 and their Premier team 5-0. At half time fans will be treated to a sneak peak at the up and coming female footballers in the area when an Under 13’s Community Games Selection take to the pitch to showcase their talents.

The Wednesday afternoon sees the future hopes of the club displaying their talents when the older section of the Mini Leagues take on Armagh City in a cross border blitz. This blitz is for the children aged 9-11 who play at the mini leagues on a Sunday morning and all children interested in taking part should contact Ciáran Donnelly on 087 6355059.

Thursday is United’s big day with the official opening of the new Astro Pitch and the FAI League of Ireland match against Limerick among the highlights of the day.

In the morning, Monaghan Sports Partnership’s Sports Inclusion Development Officer, Jennifer Hill, will conclude her highly successful and fun Football For All Soccer Skills Programme with a blitz. Jennifer has been working closely with the groups in Monaghan and Cavan the weeks leading up to the AGM and helping them, with the assistance of Monaghan United coach Ciáran Donnelly, Carrick Rovers coach Oliver Martin, and Cavan Coaches Paul Smith and Shane Reavey, to develop their footballing skills. This programme has been extremely worthwhile and has found a whole new group of people to enjoy the thrill of playing football. The FAI bus of VIP’s will call into this event in recognition of the hard work that has gone into the programme.

Later in the day the FAI’s Football For All officers will holding a Blind Football Workshop to help encourage those who are visually impaired or blind to play football. This programme will finish up just in time for the opening of the new Astro Pitch.

There is much excitement at Monaghan United and in the surrounding areas at the opening of the new Astro pitch. A full sized, floodlit top class facility has been installed further enhancing the already excellent services at Kingspan Century Park. This new pitch will offer all clubs in the area an exceptional all weather pitch for training and matches which will undoubtedly encourage even more people to take part in football in the area. The official opening will be the start of a new era at Monaghan United with the club being able to expand its coaching at juvenile and community levels.

It is expected that the FAI top brass and some other personalities will be in attendance for the opening of the pitch and will also be present at the FAI League of Ireland First Division game afterwards. The kick off for the Monaghan United – v – Limerick game is 8pm and it should prove to be a great game as only 2 points separate the teams.

There will be half time entertainment by the Monaghan United Under 9’s team and Monaghan Brass Band will also lend a festive air to the game. As there is a large crowd expected at this game, all fans are recommended to come early.

The Friday will see the conclusion of the FAI Summer Soccer Schools and also an Intercultural Club Open Day event. This consists of a free 2 hour coaching session for children aged 6-13 hosted by the FAI in an effort to encourage children who are not already attached to a club or who may not be aware of clubs in their areas, to sign up and play football. The event particularly promotes an anti racism & intercultural message to assist children from different ethnic backgrounds to mix & feel comfortable playing football in Monaghan.

The week long Festival of Football takes place all over the County, and those who enjoy the beautiful game are in for a treat. This is your chance to show Ireland that football is alive and kicking in County Monaghan, so come out and support as many events as possible.

All sounds super but what times the clubhouse open? aint going near the squeeky twig with those suited knobs around.

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Originally Posted by Magicme

16.00-18.00 FAI Blind Football Workshop

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Nice of you to include the referees too often their hard work and dedication is overlooked at events like this

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Monkfish

All sounds super but what times the clubhouse open? aint going near the squeeky twig with those suited knobs around.

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Bar will probably be open from about 7pm as usual.

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Originally Posted by passinginterest

Nice of you to include the referees too often their hard work and dedication is overlooked at events like this

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Ha ha! Smarta**e

Monaghan United U-20s 4 - 1 Ireland International Deaf

As part of the celebrations for the FAI Annual Conference Week in County Monaghan, Monaghan United’s Under 20 side played their first pre-season friendly when they took on the Irish International Deaf side in what was a very entertaining game at Kingspan Century Park. By no means was the game as one sided as the final score line might suggest and the international side were unlucky not to have scored some more goals from the many good chances they created.

Monaghan broke the deadlock on the quarter hour mark, a ball played forward to Martin Hanley and from alongside the ‘D’ he struck a ground shot, it didn’t appear to have a lot of power, but he placed it well in the corner of the net and the keeper Ciaran Maloney would have been disappointed not to have got a hand to it.

United were lucky that their lead was not short lived as a minute later a break down in communications between their keeper Aaron Mc. Carey and a number of his defenders almost allowed the visitors through, indeed a couple more uncharacteristic lapses by Aaron could have seen them punished. Although we had some good attempts from both sides in the first half there was no increase in the score line.

The second half was only 2 minutes old when Monaghan doubled their take, Conor Callan took a free from the right from 40 yards out his strike was pushed out to Ronan O’ Hara and from 20 yard he volleyed to the net. Two minutes later a fine strike from Mark Sinclair almost got one back for Ireland but substitute keeper Darren Mc. Quaid, who had come on at half time got a hand to it to turn it over the bar.

A few minutes later they deservedly got back in the game when Sinclair was taken down for a penalty and he took the spot kick giving the keeper no chance. There then followed a missed chance at either end, first from Sinclair when he pulled his attempt just wide of the post when it appeared easier to score and Darren Freeman for Monaghan scooped this strike from 5 yards over the bar.

The good sized crowd was seeing some very entertaining football from both sides and in the last quarter it was a game that could have gone either way, however two strikes from substitute Shane Reavy settled it in favour of United, his first goal came when he picked the ball up on the edge of the area ,he took a few short steps forward before picking his spot and his second goal came right on the stroke of full time, it resulted from a very good move out of defence and when the ball was struck forward Shane was in the right place and with his poacher like instincts he wasn’t going to miss.

This was a very good work out for this under-20 side and the manager Pat Mc. Gibbon would have been very pleased with the overall performance.

The Teams:-

Monaghan United: Aaron Mc. Carey, Conor Callan, Darren Coleman, Mark Connolly, Niall Flynn, Martin Hanley, Ronan O’ Hara, Darren Freeman, Philip Donnelly, Daniel Ryan, Aaron Haire. Subs used: Cian Byrne, Dean Mc. Mahon, Shane Reavy, Jimmy Fallon, Darren Mc. Quaid, Charlie Mc. Donald.

Republic of Ireland: Ciaran Maloney, Damien Mc. Mahon, Brian Daly, Stuart Foy, Noel O’ Donnell, Eoin Burns, Andrew Wynne, Eamonn Byrne, Brian Babb, Jason Maguire, Mark Sinclair. Subs used: Kevin Dudley, Chris Corcoran, Finbarr Ryan, Subs not used: Eoghan Fee, Rino Gigalone, Jamie Wilson.

Special Olympics
The half time entertainment at the game between Monaghan United Under 20’s side and Irelands’ International Deaf team was provided by Monaghan’s Special Olympic.

This was indeed a very entertaining affair with some great scores and some fine skills on display. Congratulations to the players, coaches and everyone else involved.