SPRINGFIELD 1995

SPRINGFIELD:




Springfield may not be hitting the headlines on the playing

fields at present but the Cobh club is going well. Long time

Springers activist John Murphy says that support in the town "is

better than ever".



They need all the support they can get. In addition to the

senior and junior sides in the AUL, Springfield run schoolboy

league teams at under 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Besides, every

Saturday morning at the gym in Colaiste Muire, some sixty under

10s, 9s, and 8s, have training sessions.



Paddy McCarthy is the current chairman and the other officers are

Hughie O'Reilly (vice-chairman), John Coughlan (secretary), and

Conor McCarthy (treasurer). The other committee members are John

O'Sullivan, Frank Collins, Christy Ryan, Colm McDonagh, and John

Murphy.



Coughlan and McDonagh look after the senior team and are in the

process of rebuilding, having lost some good players. But there

is more to football than winning and, while Springers are

currently in a lowly position in the AUL Senior Division, there

is a very good atmosphere when this squad gets together.



Springfield were losing quite a lot of the good underage players

to other clubs and while they would never stand in the way of a

player wanting to better himself they also wanted to benefit

themselves from all their good work at underage level. So, this

season they set up a junior team which includes a lot of recent

minors and will no doubt produce some handy players for the first

team.



Hughie O'Reilly is the player-manager with this side and he gets

sideline assistance from John Murphy (who also runs the Under

12s). Robert Murphy, the veteran of the side, is the skipper.

Most of the other lads are about the twenty mark.



Their home form has been excellent and includes a win over

promotion seeking Corkbeg Utd but, as yet, their away form has

been disappointing. That will have to change if they are to

become genuine promotion candidates next season.



The junior panel is: Kevin Condon (keeper), Gary Cox, Brian

Wilson, Jason Hickey, Adrian O'Flynn, Pat Foley, Peter Hurley,

Nino Pipitoni (a Sicilian), Damien Burns, Frank Collins (who

helps run the Under 12s), John O'Flynn, Robert Wilson, Greg

O'Brien, and Peter McSweeney.



The senior panel also has quite a lot of youngsters and is

captained by keeper Brian Farrell. The other players are: Colm

McDonagh (player-manager), Christy Ryan (who manages the under

14s), Christy Fitzgerald, Pat Hurley, Denis Kiely, Con Keating,

Kieran Brady, Val Keenan, Brian Lawton, Martin Cusack, Nigel

Britton, Niall Cloake, and Kieran Walsh.