THEY shoot, they score – and now Clonakilty Soccer Club has added the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Team of the Year award to their bulging trophy cabinet.
After a magical 2023/24 season that saw the Clonakilty club win the West Cork League Premier Division title for the first time ever and also capture the Beamish Cup for the first time in 16 years, they have now been crowned the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Team of the Year.
‘We were shocked when we got the call,’ a delighted Clonakilty Soccer Club manager John Leahy admitted.
‘It’s a great award to win and we’re delighted. When you look at the quality of the teams in West Cork, this is a brilliant award to win because Castlehaven, Goleen and the O’Donovan Rossa ladies all had brilliant years as well.’
It was a season the double-winning champions will never forget as they got their hands on the biggest two prizes in the West Cork League. First, on May 5th, Clonakilty Soccer Club defeated Drinagh Rangers 3-2 to win the Beamish Cup final in Lyre. Chris Collins struck a brace for the winners and Conor McKahey was also on target in a cup win that also had an impact on the Premier Division title race.
Clonakilty Soccer Club manager John Leahy celebrates their Premier Division success.
As Clonakilty Soccer Club fought to stay ahead of serial league winners Drinagh, beating their title rivals in a huge game was a psychological boost for the weeks that followed in the title run-in.
‘That was a huge win because Drinagh had something over us. I have been playing for ten or 11 years, but I had only beaten them once before that and that was in my first junior game playing soccer,’ Chris Collins previously told the Star.
‘The Beamish Cup final was the second time and it gave us the edge to know what we can do. We had the players to match them, compared to other seasons.’
The Premier Division title race came down to a winner-take-all last-game showdown between the top two, leaders Clonakilty and second-placed Drinagh, in Clon’s home patch, Darrara on Sunday, June 2nd. Clonakilty, leading Drinagh by two points, needed to avoid defeat to win the Premier title for the first time and the history-makers held their nerve in a 2-2 draw, twice coming from behind thanks to Jonathan Leahy strikes.
It meant Clonakilty Soccer Club were champions after a league campaign that saw them win 15 out of 18 Premier Division games, drawing two more and just losing once, while also scoring 70 goals and conceding just 13 – the best team in the West Cork League won.
Now their success will be recognised with the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Team of the Year award that they will receive at the gala banquet on Saturday, January 18th in The Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery.
