Skills boost for local rugby and gaelic players

THE annual get together of the Green’s sponsored Lisburn mini rugby section and St Joseph’s Glenavy Go games section took place last Monday at Chapel Hill, Glenavy.
Darragh Armstrong, James Gallagher and Hugh Thompson.Darragh Armstrong, James Gallagher and Hugh Thompson.
Darragh Armstrong, James Gallagher and Hugh Thompson.

Guest of honour this year was James Gallagher the no 8 on this season’s Methody Schools Cup winning side who has now represented Ireland three times at U-18 level and plays senior football for the Hunky Dorys sponsored St Joseph’s. James learnt his trade in the two disciplines with the two clubs during his time at Ballymacricket and Rathmore.

Great friendships between the boys have now developed which benefits performance on and off the pitch. This goes back some time in particular with the Malley family, Graham at Wallace is in the Ulster U-16 development and turns out regularly for Glenavy U-16s, and the Gallaghers where James has followed his brothers Charles, who tasted Schools Cup success with Campbell in 2011, and Dominic who although currently injured remains on the books of Ulster and played for Ireland U–20s in the same year.

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Perhaps the biggest impact has been at U-10 level where in the third year of participation many of the boys - Darragh Armstrong, Finn Malley, Hugh Thompson, Charlie Irvine, Ben Armstrong, Tim Honeyford, Christopher Beaumont and Pedro Manso - have been playing in tournaments for Lisburn on Saturdays and representing the Glenavy ‘A’ team on Sundays.

Participation in both games has undoubtedly increased skill levels - for the rugby players hand, foot and eye co-ordination; for the footballers spacial awareness and coping with permitted contact. Who knows how many of these U-10s will follow James in raising the Schools Cup - hopefully for Wallace or Friends’ - and how many will play senior football and push to wear the Saffron shirt of Antrim?

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