West Cork Kennedy Cup squad being organised for next year

THE West Cork Schoolboys League are continuing their preparations for next year’s New Balance SFAI Kennedy Cup.
There is still no official word on if or when the SFAI will run their annual week-long schoolboys league tournament at the University of Limerick next year.
Despite the uncertainty, the WCSL has pressed ahead with organising their Kennedy Cup (U14) squad. A recent mid-term training camp proved a big success for the 30-player panel including specialised sessions with Cork City Women’s FC manager Ronán Collins.
West Cork Kennedy Cup manager Lorne Edemade and his coaching staff will continue to train as often as possible heading into Christmas and the New Year to make sure the squad is ready, should the 2021 tournament go ahead.
For the WCSL players, living through the Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult. The loss of competitive SFAI Subway inter-league matches and training meant 2020 was a season like no other.
Thankfully, the return of regular training – albeit non-contact and with players separated into smaller pods / groups – is a welcome development. The prospect of travelling to the University of Limerick for next year’s Kennedy Cup is inspiring the current West Cork recruits to give their absolute best in each session.
‘Our mid-term training camp was very good and we are training most weeks now, which is brilliant,’ WCSL U14 and Lyre Rovers player Jack Hennigan said.
‘Things were very boring there for a while because of Covid and we couldn’t do much. Then we managed to get in four or five days training during the mid-term.
‘You have to do your best, day in, day out. The coaches are always asking you to do better because there are 30 of us in the squad, so if you want to be involved to have to try your hardest in training.’
Hennigan’s sentiments were echoed by club teammate Rory McCarthy :‘Having more coaches to look after us this year is great,’
‘Under 13 was tough, but we have a very good squad and lots of coaches to work with now for the rest of the year. Everyone has really enjoyed the training sessions so far and they have been very good,’ McCarthy said.
‘It is the Kennedy Cup so you have to work hard every time you train. We are being pushed to the best of our abilities and to improve in every session by our coaches.’
Clonakilty’s Luke Murphy is another player hoping to make an impression at next year’s yet to be confirmed Kennedy Cup: ‘It’s been very good to work with a new (Kennedy Cup) coaching team,’ Murphy commented.
‘They were able to work on our (individual) abilities and help us improve on things during the mid-term camp. I think we got a lot more out of training because the coaches were able to spend so much time with us even though we had to train in smaller groups due to Covid.
‘It is good to have the bit of craic with the lads and the coaches during training as well. Everyone is just looking forward to (hopefully) playing in the Kennedy Cup next year.’