This was in the Sligo Champion

**A face** · 11/03/2002, 12:02 PM

Does anyone know how it went ...... How did each province get on, or more importantly .... who won !!??

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Sligo hosts country's top young players for Inter-Provincial tournament

THE cream of under age talent from throughout the country will gather in Sligo this weekend when the F.A.I. Under-17 Inter-Provincials are held locally for the first time ever.

By Michael Moran

Organised by the Connacht Youth and Schoolboys Committee of the Connacht Football Association, the prestigious tournament will see Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht take part in a round-robin series to determine the new Inter-Pro champions.

The format was changed to the round-robin system this year, rather than the semi-finals and finals of previous years in order to ensure that all games were of equal importance and to remove the third and fourth place play-off tie.

The action gets underway on Friday, when the host province take on Ulster at MacSharry Park, Cranmore Road, at 3.00pm. Munster play Leinster at the Showgrounds on Friday night at 7.00pm.

On Saturday, Sean Fallon Park, Cranmore, is the venue for the Munster versus Connacht game (Kick-Off 1.30pm), while Leinster face Ulster in MacSharry Park at 3.00pm.

The fixture programme concludes on Sunday morning, with Leinster playing Connacht in the Showgrounds and Munster taking on Ulster at Sean Fallon Park. Both games have 11.00am kick-offs.

A special presentation lunch will take place in the Sligo Park Hotel on Sunday at 1.30pm.

The Inter-Provincials were to be held in Sligo last year, but the foot and mouth crisis jettisoned those plans, but now its all systems go for what should be a memorable weekend of soccer action.

And, Paul Fielding, the first manager to guide Sligo Rovers to F.A.I. Cup glory, will make a welcome return to the Showgrounds as manager of the Connacht squad. Fielding, now based in Ballina, will have Brenda Kenny from Ballina Town as his coach and their panel includes a number of Sligo based players.

Due to Sligo Rovers game in Cobh, Steve Feeney and John Gaffney will be unavailable, but Colin Jinks, Brian Curran and Alan Maguire are included from the Rovers camp.

Stephen Hallinan and Trevor Scanlon of Abbey United have also been named in the panel, which also features Fergus Horan and Stuart Rutherford of Cartron United and Morgan Carty of Strand Celtic.

Leinster are the defending champions and have Sligo's Ryan O'Donnell in their line-up. O'Donnell was the captain of the Cartron United Under-16 team which won the All-Ireland title last year. He is now playing with Stella Maris in Dublin.

The competition will also serve as an international trial for the under-17 and under-18 Irish teams and Irish manager, Brian Kerr, and his assistant, Noel O'Reilly, will be in attendance, together with F.A.I. Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Menton, and a number of top F.A.I. officials.

The Sligo branch of the Irish Referees' Society will officiate at all games.

The tournament will also generate an economic boost for the area over the three days and the visiting teams will be based in the Tower Hotel, the Sligo Park and the Yeats Country Hotel.