Here we go again, another brand spanking new season is almost upon us and it only seems like last week that we packed away the boots, shin guards, cones, ladders, jerseys etc for the summer recess!

Anyway, onward and upwards we go and at CY that’s exactly what we have done. Pre-season began on Sunday July 6th for our three senior teams and on a warm sunny morning we had approximately 35 players down with the usual mix of holidays and work preventing others from attending.

A good blow-out was had with plenty of heavy breathing and even the odd breakfast being regurgitated! Training continued the following Tuesday and Thursday with intense workouts at the Irishtown Nature Park and Ringsend Park before a specially-arranged training camp in DCU the weekend of 12th and 13th of July.

This ‘boot’ camp was a brilliant success with a mixed bag of fitness, ball & strength work endeing with a recovery session on the Sunday afternoon with Saunas and ice baths. Another intense session was completed on the Tuesday 15th before we moved into friendly games for the three senior sides.

All three teams were scheduled to compete in two different pre-season tournaments. Second and third teams would play in the annual Noel Fox Memorial Cup to be played in Ringsend park while the first team would partake in another annual friendly tournament– the Tommy Clements memorial cup staged annually in the AUL complex. After these ‘friendly’ tournaments it will be back to some more training to bring us into the new season in good nick.

Schoolboys season 2008/09:
On the schoolboy side of things CY will now have two teams competing in the Dublin and District schoolboy league (DDSL) at U15 & U13 age groups.

.It’s long been a goal of CY to establish a permanent schoolboy section, having flirted with the idea over the past five seasons. We feel it’s important to be involved in the game at grass-roots level to ensure a lasting conveyor belt of players into the senior ranks and, who knows, in some cases beyond into the professional game.

We intend to introduce new teams from the younger age groups over the coming years and give parents and young players alike another alternative to the traditional schoolboy clubs which have served the area over the years. This coming season, Paddy McGuinness and Jason Flood will take charge of the U15s with a management team to be announced soon for our newly formed U13 side.

Fashion police & facilities:
As always, our teams will be kitted out in the best this coming season. New tracksuits, training tops and t-shirts will be distributed for the usual nominal fee. As you will also be aware, the facilities in the Ringsend/ Irishtown area have been improving year on year and this season sees the opening of the new all-weather soccer pitch in Ringsend park.

This was a badly-needed amenity with so many clubs using Ringsend park which meant the pitches took a battering throughout the season, barely getting time to recover in the summer before being used again. This new all-weather surface will give much-needed relief to the over-used grass pitches while also providing a fantastic flood lit training facility for local clubs.

Best wishes:
All that’s left is to wish all our teams the best this season. Our first team, managed by John Young and coached by Mark Benson, will attempt to climb the intermediate ladder. After a third place finish last season, they will be confident of pushing on and improving.

Our second team, managed by Anthony Owens and this season accompanied by Wayne Byrne, will expect to continue developing the young senior players whilst acting as a fantastic back up to our first team and, hopefully, add to the annual trophy haul we’ve been getting accustomed to.

Finally, our third team will continue to act as a nursery for young players coming into the club and a nursing home for those staring retirement in the face. We wish joint managers David Nolan and the forever-young Ray Williams all the best in the adventures in LSL Division Two Sunday.

Our hard-working committee of Patrick Healy (treasurer), John Healy (secretary), George Desay (Chairman), Derek Bowden and Patrick O’Keefe will, as ever, keep things ticking over nicely in the background throughout the season and without these guys this club would cease to function.

If you would like to find out more about the CY, you can check out the website at www.stpatscyfc.com where you will find a wealth in information about the club. A newly-designed site is due to be launched in mid-August.