Cloudforests April Sports Round-Up

What a month for the Community Teams of Cloudforests. From International tournaments to biking blitzes and everything in between. Our community teams are doing amazing things… 

Shelbourne Academy Teams

The Shelbourne Academy had quite a month in April, with wins across all of the Cloudforest sponsored teams. As well as the U-15s going to Spain to compete in a massive international tournament.

Under 15 Men’s

The Under 15 Men's team had an incredible April. Earlier this month, the team and the backroom staff jetted off to the island of Mallorca for the international East Mallorca Cup. 

In the group stage, they faced local teams like CD Serverense & CD Cide, as well as the Japanese side Forza Aichi. They also faced the mighty Athletico Bilbao in the first round of games. After winning 4 of the 5 group games they reached the 1/4 final of the cup. In the Quarter-Final, they faced none other than European Giants and one of the biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona.

Despite losing this game, the U15s made both their club and Cloudforests incredibly proud and we hope they enjoyed every second of what was an incredible experience.

Closer to home, the U 15s had a mixed run in April in the EA Sports U15 National League Of Ireland (Group C) for the U-15s. They had an exilliatrating away win against Carlow Kilkenny, followed by two unlucky losses against Shamrock Rovers & UCD.

Results:

(A) Carlow Kilkenny 2 - 3 Shelbourne

(H) Shelbourne 1 - 2 Shamrock Rovers

(A) UCD 3 - 2 Shelbourne

Under 17 Men’s 

The U-17 Men's team had a busy April with 4 games in 4 weeks. Despit this, they had a brilliant month, managing to achieve 9 points from a possible 12. Their most recent win against Shamrock Rovers, away from was an especially impressive victory for the team. A special shout out to Gavin Hodgins, who is currently the top scorer in the league with 9 goals.

(A) Drogheda 1 - 2 Shelbourne

(H) Shelbourne 1 - 2 Bray Wanderers

(H) Shelbourne 3 - 0 Wexford FC

(A) Shamrock Rovers 1 - 2 Shelbourne

Under 17 Women's 

The U17 Womens team had another brilliant month of football in April, as they extended their unbeaten start to the season with 2 wins and 2 draws. This means the team has gone seven games unbeaten, with 15 points from a maximum of 21. A truly magnificent start to the season, for a great team.

The U17s also had a great evening in the Sports Ireland, National Indoor Arena this month. They were participants in a coaching demonstration by Irelands National WU16 Head Coach Tom Elmes, which he delivered at the UFEA Share event, focusing on Women’s Football - Elite player pathways with UFEA delegates from all over the world. Shelbourne U17W coach Ken Kiernan commented on the event by saying

Brilliant night of learning and sharing information and ideas with the other countries delegates…Many thanks to Tom Elmes for inviting our group and allowing me to introduce our squad and speak about everything we have in place for our players development

As if all of this wasn’t enough, there was some international success within the team as one of the players, Hannah Healy, received her first international cap, playing against Northern Ireland for Irelands U15W side this month. Hannah then followed this with an even bigger achievement, as she captained the team to a 4-1 win over England, in the Bob Dockerty Cup. She even managed to score a goal in the win.  As well as this, Katie Keane, Lia O'Leary & Aoife Kelly, all were selected to represent the Ireland U16W team, with Lia O'Leary snatching a goal and an assist as they beat Turkey 4-0.

(H) Shelbourne 1 - 1 Athlone Town

(H) Shelbourne 3 - 0 Peamount United

(A) Shamrock Rovers 0 - 4 Shelbourne

(H) Shelbourne 0 - 0 Dundalk

Under 19 Men's 

Finally, the U-19 Men's team had a mixed month in April. They started off the month with a hard-fought home draw against local rivals Shamrock Rovers, followed by a great 2-nil victory over Finn Harps. However, in the last two weeks they have struggled for form with two disappointing losses to Dundalk away, and another rival side, Bohemians at home.

(H) Shelbourne 0 - 0 Shamrock Rovers

(H) Shelbourne 2 - 0 Finn Harps

(A) Dundalk 4 - 1 Shelbourne

(H) Shelbourne 1 - 2 Bohemians

Community Teams

Our other two community Football teams, Towerhill Rovers & Swords Celtic, had contrasting fortunes this month as they both played hard while representing the Cloudforests mission incredibly well.

Towerhill Rovers

Here’s an update from Paul from Towerhill Rovers:

TowerHill Rovers had a busy April with three league games played, two away wins to Inny FC (Westmeath) and Clonaslee (Laois) keeping the Portlaoise side top of the CCFL division one table. The club lost their first league game of the season in a surprise 4 v 1 defeat to Coolraine bringing a record of 11 wins and one draw to an end while also losing the honour of being the only unbeaten side in the CCFL. Towerhill also played a number of cup games and has qualified for the semi-final of the CCL counties cup, this is the flagship cup for the CCFL. Wednesday 27th sees Towerhill play local rivals Stradbally in the league, and a win will guarantee second place and promotion. April ends a busy month with an away journey to the Longford/Cavan side UCL Harps for what will be a hotly contested Division One cup Qtr final. Fingers crossed for two big results which will see Towerhill wrap up promotion, and qualify for a second-cup semi-final.

Swords Celtic

April was another tough month for Swords Celtic. Three losses from three, along with 14 goals conceded shows that Swords have a lot to build on as they go into the final few games of the season in May. Hopefully, their fortunes turn in May and they finish the season strong, as they continue to seek their first win.

Cloudforests Endurance Team

Last Sunday marked round 7 of the Biking.ie Biking Blitz in Kinnity in the heart of the Sleeve Bloom mountains. After a long base season, Paul from the Cloudforests End Team decided to dust off the cobwebs from the winter base period. This was the teams first XCMTB race since last August and Paul were more than eager to get going.

The race took the riders into the Heart of the Sleeve Bloom mountain range on specially designed mountain bike trails that have been only recently finished. Paul was entered into the Expert/Super Pro category but unfortunately was gridded at the back due to it being his first race of the year. He very quickly made his way up to the front pack at about 3km into the race but lost touch a little once the group put the hammer down. He rode a steady and consistent race keeping his powder dry and really enjoying the race on this fantastic course.

After a couple of battles with strong riders he managed to hold his own and finish in a respectable 4th place at a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes on the 43km course.

It was a highly enjoyable outing for the Team and they would recommend that people check out the area at some stage, as it is a fantastic facility to have on our doorstep.

Meanwhile, Ruth from the team continued her training as she completed a few gravel spins including one along the Royal Canal and one in the Phoenix Park. She also did a road spin out to Howth Head. Then last week she went to West Cork, where she did a road spin around Sheep's Head and then down to Mizen Head.

The Red Wood

April saw another good month of growth for the Red Wood, as both the men and women Shelbournes sides had a decent month full of goals & brilliant attendances at Tolka Park.

Damien Duff & his Shelbourne Senior Mens team had an up and down month in April. The month kicked off with a strong start. They started with a 1-0 away win over Sligo Rovers, followed by an unfortunate 2-1 loss to reigning champions Shamrock Rovers at Tolka Park. Then came an incredible 2-1 win against league leaders Derry City in the Brandywell Stadium in Derry. Unfortunately, Shelbourne’s fortunes turned sharply with a 4-1 Home loss, followed by 2-1 loss to Dundalk. Hopefully, Shelbourne can reverse this run of form and finish the month off strong, with an away win against Finn Harps on Friday night. In April, the mens team scored 6 goals, which has lead to 6 Trees being planted in the Red Wood. As well as this, 21 Trees were planted based on the total attendance at Tolka Park in April (10,500).

Finally, the Senior Womens Shelbourne side had a fantastic April. They currently find themselves 2nd in the Womens National League table, after securing 12 from a maximum of 15 points this month. This includes wins against Sligo Rovers, Galway & Wexford Youths. The only blip was an unlucky 1-0 defeat to UCD Waves, away from home. However, with one game remaining this month against Treaty United, the Shelbourne Womens side could still finish the month of April at the top of the table as we head into May. All in all, with 5 goals in April, the Womens side contributed 5 Trees being planted in the Red Wood.

If you’d like to find out more about the Red Wood, or if you’d like to directly contribute to the Red Wood, you can click the button below: