Dec 24th – WATERGRASSHILL UNITED U16 SEASON REVIEW 2012/13

Having won div 3 at U15 level last season (2011/12) we got promoted an extra division to Division 1 at U16 level for season 2012/13. This was partly out of choice and pragmatism as all our games are now on 10:30am on a Sunday morning and for the most part avoiding clashing with other codes. Playing every week at a high level has been a huge learning curve for both players and managers. The reality in division 1 is that you can play well in a lot of games and still lose. It is also a league where for the most part you get punished severely for mistakes or a poor 10 minutes during a match. In addition up to very recently we have been operating with a very small squad and also dealing with players competing at high levels in other codes on Saturdays. As such the league games have been very challenging but as we speak the team is in mid table and definitely not out of its depth when at or near full strength.

The huge positive news is of course what you lose in the swings you gain in the roundabout and this has to be true for out National Cup run. As most will be aware the team recently qualified in dramatic style for the last 32 of the NC and in early February will host Malahide United at home. We are aware this is a great achievement for the team and for the whole club. Definitely competing in div 1 has helped enormously to raise the teams standard and we would feel key to our cup success. Recently Edward ‘Pips’ O Connell joined the management team and his enthusiasm and ideas have also been hugely influential. Challenges we face like any other Wgh Utd team include trying to give all players game time and coping with the fact that many ‘experts’ seem to be able to volunteer their opinion on matters both privately and publicly but no one seems able to volunteer to wash the jerseys.

The team’s goals for the rest of the season is to try and continually raise our standard of play, improve our league position and to represent Wgh Utd proudly in the National Cup. We would like to thank all within the club for their good wishes and support during our cup run and for your help and work as we prepare to host the Malahide Utd game.

Noel, Pat and Pips