ST JOHN BOSCO'S 2000

St John Bosco's




Water Rock Park, home of St John Bosco's, is always a busy venue. But it has been even busier of late, most of the action off the field as the East Cork club improved its facilities.



New dressing rooms have been installed for both home and visiting teams and the referee has also been taken care of. Thanks largely to the efforts of Barry McGrath, showers have been installed in the old dressing rooms. Barry got valuable help from Dave Crotty, Tom Wallis, Eric Costigan, and Justin Donnelly.



Visitors will be delighted with the improvement and regular visitors will have noticed over recent years a gradual improvement of the pitch surface so much so that it is nowadays rarely unplayable.



Well done to the committee, which is: Frank Morgan (chairman), Denis McSweeney (secretary), Gerry O'Connor (vice chairman), William Brown (treasurer), Billy Ahern, Barry McGrath, and Barry McMahon. Bosco's are delighted with the support received from Tony Moore (Meeting Place), Tom Clear (Water Rock), and SIFCO.



Bosco's are currently top of the pile in Premier A but secretary McSweeney regards the return of keeper Gerry Collins as the best thing to happen this season: "He is just back after being out for over two years. Most people thought he would never play again". Damien Mackessy is another saint on the road back after injury and he is part of the first team panel.



McSweeney is manager of the Premier side while the duties in 1B are shared between Gerry O'Sullivan and Barry McGrath. Quite a few of the Bosco's side have been around for some time. None longer though than East Cork farmer Joe Hartnett who has been ruling the roost in midfield for some twenty three seasons.



The club's immediate ambition, now that they are out of the cups, is to stay in the hunt for honours in Premier A and to improve on their performances between now and the end of the season. They train twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the longer term, the intention is to bring more of the younger players from the B team onto the first team squad.



Kieran O'Hanlon, one time winner of the Murphy Golden Boot Award, and Brendan Foley are the leading scorers in the first team which is captained by Eric Costigan. Midfielder Kenneth O'Mahony skippers the 1B side which have been making a name for itself in cup competitions.



Bosco's were in action in the Mossie Linnane League Cup last Sunday and won 2 - 1, Bailey and O'Hanlon on target, away to Villa United. It was a narrow escape as Villa had a good effort come back off the bar. Next Sunday morning, McSweeney's men will have home advantage for the visit of Ballincollig in the league. This too could be a close one as Martin O'Neill's visitors are better than their position suggests.



Premier A panel: Nigel Berry (keeper), Eric Costigan, Aidan Berry, Aidan McSweeney, Dave Bailey, Joe Hartnett, Kieran O'Hanlon, Mick Boylan, John Boylan, Owen Leahy, Kieran Murphy, Brendan Foley, Justin Donnelley, Kevin Hartnett, Sean Corcoran, Barry McMahon, Stephen Cahill, Muirish Quirke, Liam Kennedy, Damien Mackessy, Billy Ahern, and Mark Lewis.



B team squad: Noel Murphy, Kenneth O'Mahony, Joe Ryan, Jason Bailey, Stephen Leahy, Gerry O'Sullivan (player manager), James O'Connor, Gerry Collins, Dave Barry, Willie Crowley, Paul Horgan, Eric Desmond, Trevor Desmond, Steve Wilson, Kevin McSweeney, Micky Boland, Greg Cahill (just back from America), Shane Kennedy, and Michael O'Keeffe.