We can’t leave the weekend pass without mentioning Emily Blackmore who attended trials for the Waterford U12 girls development squad yesterday and done very well. Emily who is still u11, is a brilliant role model for both boys and girls in the club with her great attitude and work rate. Keep up the good work Emily!

Both our U11 squads were in action this morning in damp soft conditions. The blue squad travelled to play Villa and put in 2 excellent performances in testing conditions. The progress made by this squad since the first meeting with Villa has been excellent. The Orange squad hosted Bohs in very soft conditions. With the majority of the squad made up of our older academy players, they found the going tough against a decent Bohs squad but still kept battling regardless with excellent performances put in by more senior players like Liam Mackey, Thomas O’Neill and Michael Murphy. All of this squad have at least one more year at u11 with the majority having 2 years. Good experience gained regardless.

Unfortunately, the u13 game away to Villa and the 2b game away to Waterford Crystal succumbed to the weather with overnight rain making the pitches unplayable.

Tomorrow, our youths play Ferrybank B at home so fingers crossed the rain stays away and the wind blows a gale. 2pm kick off. Support for this lot would be most welcome.

Hallelujah! Games at last. Tomorrow: U11 Orange squad at home to Bohs, kick off 10.30 U11 Blue squad away to Villa, kick off 12.15, U13 away to Villa kick off 2pm. 2b away to Waterford Crystal, kick off 2pm. Sunday: Youths home to Ferrybank, kick off 2pm. No preview of games required, just great to have games on. Credit to all squads for continuing to train regardless of weather and ground conditions. Support as always is most welcome for all teams.

Due to the rules and regulations attached to child welfare laws the club are currently looking for 2 coaches for our U11 Orange squad. They currently train on a Tuesday and Thursday from 6-7 and have a game every 2nd week. The plan going forward is to train once a week and a game every 2nd week. We have a coach with them at the minute but he can’t continue on his own due to these rules. Ideally, 3 coaches per squad is the number we require, so if any interested parties can spare an hour a week for training (an hour that suits ye) and a couple of hours for a match every 2nd week on a Saturday morning please give Kevin Dobbyn a call or text on 0876167700. The alternative is to pull this team out and leave 18 youngsters without soccer which is the last thing we want to do.

Our U9 academy squad travelled into De la Salle this afternoon in bitter cold conditions but put on a brilliant display along with DLS in a series of 9 games. A good number of our u8s battled with the older lads for the first time and certainly showed how capable they were.

Goal of the day must go to young Ryan Sutton who got stuck in and got his just rewards with a goal in a 6-6 thriller, not bad for a younger academy player.

Credit to the parents for braving the cold and cheering on the kids. It does make that little bit of difference. Big thanks to Gavin Lonergan, Nicky McGrath and their young coaches in De la Salle for hosting us. Brilliant to see the younger coaches getting involved and taking charge from a young age.

We had a large crowd of kids at our academy sessions this evening with the girls group kick-starting their sessions under the watchful eyes of Dee Travers, Padraig Kirwan and Mary Delahunty. The u7 boys were kept on their toes by Mick McCarthy and Michael Reid which is no mean feat. The second session of u8 & u9 boys had over 30 lads but had Miguel, Colm O’Donoghue, John Hearne and Mike Molloy putting them through their paces. Over 60 kids between the 2 hours with plenty fun had. But without these guys giving up their time every Friday evening the academy would not take place. It is growing year on year and it is thanks to coaches volunteering for making this happen and keeping the show on the road. The club are extremely lucky and very grateful to all our coaches throughout the club. To each and everyone of ye, massive thanks.

All schoolboys and junior league games cancelled due to the poor pitch conditions.

Saturday, u12 home to Villa, kick off 10.30
U14 away to Carrick, kick off 2.15
4th division away to Dungarvan, kick off 2pm

Sunday: 2b away to De la Salle, kick off 11am
Youths away to Villa, kick off 2pm

Due to the wet weather all waterford junior league games tomorrow are called off . So out 4th division an youths have the day off .