IRELAND ANNOUNCE U-18 AND U-16 TEAMS

FOR PARIS After much anticipation and waiting, the AIPF recently announced an U-18 AND an U-16 team to go to Paris on Oct 30th for the EPFA International Trophy. The tournament will take place in the south of Paris and feature a team from the USA, Finland, Austria, and France. All teams will be in the same group and will play the other five, so both Ireland teams will also have a match against each other. Originally Ireland was invited to send just one team to the tournament but after some continuous enquiries about the possibility of more players being allowed go we received the great news of an offer to send a second team. The philosophy behind this friendly tournament is to allow young athletes to gain a real international sporting experience. Beyond results, to give the opportunity to participants to meet young athletes from abroad, discover another culture, another country. The other great piece of news for all those players named below is that they will receive an international cap from the FAI for their participation in this international tournament and the AIPF is very appreciative to Oisin Jordan and the Football For All Programme for making this happen.

IRELAND U-18 IRELAND U-16

Thomas Winters (Parkvilla Meath) Emer O'Sullivan ( Midlands Utd)

Kevin Gannon ( Fingal Flyers) Thomas Donogher (Midlands Utd)

Marc Bigger (Belfast Trailblazers) Sean Donogher (Midlands Utd)

Neil Sheehan ( Midlands Utd) Josh Dillon ( Fingal Flyers)

Tommy Stack ( Kingdom Rebels) Scott Hilland ( Belfast Trailblazers)

Ciaran Forde ( KIngdom Rebels) Carl McVeigh ( Belfast Trailblazers)

PENALTIES PENALTIES AND THEN SOME MORE!

The AIPF National Cup and Shield took place in UL on May 25th. It will be remembered for many things, not least the number of matches that needed penalties to decide the outcome and in many cases it also needed a sudden death round to eventually separate a winner. The first round had seen Belfast Trailblazers beating St Joeys, Midlands Utd winning over Fingal Flyers2, Kingdom Rebels2 beating Shannon Town, Kingdom Rebels1 overcoming Fingal Flyers1 in the first penalty shoot-out of the day, and Belfast2 getting the better of Parkvilla Meath again after a penalty shoot-out. As in previous years the format was the five winners going forward for the Cup draw and the five that had lost their first round matches would compete for the Shield, with the last two teams in the draw for the next round of the Cup and the Shield having to play off to book the last place in their respective semi-finals and continue to remain in the competition. The Cup play-off paired Kingdom Rebels1 and Midlands together, this game too ended stalemate with Midlands Utd just coming out on top in the shoot-out. In the Shield play-off Fingal Flyers1came through against Parkvilla Meath to complete the semi-final line up. The Cup semi finals paired Kingdom Rebels2 and Belfast Trailblazers2, with the other semi-final bringing close rivals Belfast Trailblazers1 and Midlands Utd together once more, and the script was already being considered that the two Belfast teams might end up playing each other, and that is exactly what transpired, Belfast2 comfortably beat Kingdom Rebels2 which left the extra anticipation of what would happen in the second Cup semi. Once again it proved to be a stalemate in normal time and after two rounds of penalties and then narrowing of goals, Midlands relinquished their grip on the domestic double and Belfast1 went through to the final to meet their counterparts Belfast2. Belfast2 enlisted the help of Keith Hayes from St Joeys to make up their team of four and in a spirited game, Belfast Trailblazers1 emerged victorious by 1-0 to take this seasons AIPF National Cup. The Shield semis pitched Shannon Town and Fingal Flyers2 and St Joeys and Fingal Flyers1. Shannon Town got the better of Fingal Flyers2 while St Joeys fell to Fingal Flyers1 and despite a valiant effort in the first half, Fingal Flyers won the Shield comfortably in the end.

New Head Coach Nick Harrison speaks with the nominees for the final selection process for the U-18 International Trophy in Paris which took place the day after the AIPF Cup and Shield on Sunday June 26th

BON VOYAGE! BONNE CHANCE! We would all like to wish Midlands Utd the very best of luck as they prepare to embark on their adventure to the EPFA Champions Cup in Paris shortly. We know they will represent Ireland and the AIPF very well and we look forward to reporting on the whole tournament in the next issue of the AIPF Newsletter.

PLAYER PROFILE : MYLES KELLY

Myles is from Ballywilliam Wexford but works and lives in Dublin. Enjoys his sport especially football and enjoys his social life too. He plays with St Joeys. Favourite Football Team: Liverpool Favourite Movies: Pulp Fiction Favourite Actor: Brad Pitt Favourite Book: Anything about Football or History Favourite Foods: Pizza Favourite Drinks: Heineken, 7 UP - just not together :) Favourite Band/Musician: Snow Patrol Favourite TV Programs: The Beatles, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Luke Kelly Most Hated TV Program: Reality and Gardening Shows Favourite Comedian: Billy Connolly What is your biggest phobia: Missing Last Orders in a pub Place you would most like to visit: and New York Sports Person you most admire: and Paul McGrath If you could attend any sports event in the world what would it be? Champions League Final ( featuring Liverpool ) If you owned a racehorse what would you call it? Crazy Feet If you could invite five people to dinner dead or alive who would they be: Oscar Wilde, Groucho Marx, Bill Shankley, Billy Connolly, Spike Milligan. If you could be someone else for the day who would you be : Jamie Redknapp, his job is to watch football all day and spoof about it, and his wife is not bad looking :) What lifts your spirits when you are down? Friends and family What character trait do you want to be known for? Kindness, friendship, loyalty to good friends. When you close your eyes what do you see? Blue skies, blue seas, a sandy beach and a cheap bar :) What makes you smile? Kind people, family, friends, having the craic. What makes you angry ? People not listening to me or people I care about, and people who just don't care. What is the most desirable trait another personcan possess? Kindness What could society do without ? Narrow-minded and bigoted people. What is your most prized possession? My powered and manual wheelchairs, my TV and my PC. What is your most favourite place on earth? Lanzarote at the moment. What are three things that people don’t know about you? One shouldn't reveal one's secrets to one's enemies, not that one has enemies in football - to paraphrase a certain Happy One! If you could be given the answer to ANY one question you could ask what would it be ? What is the meaning of life - Is it really 42 ? Which player do you most admire from another Powerchair Football team ? Aoife McNicholl Which Powerchair Football team do you look forward to playing the most ? Midlands Utd, they have a healthy rivalry with St Joeys :) ABBIE BYRNE CUP A GOOD TEST FOR MIDLANDS

The annual Abbie Byrne Memorial Cup took place in Corduff Blanchardstown on Sat June 15th. It provided a good final test for Midlands Utd before their departure for Paris. Five teams took part on the day and there were some great battles, in particular the semi final between Fingal Flyers1 and Midlands. Fingal Flyers took a lead following a goal from Lee Fitzsimmons but Midlands managed to get themselves back into the game and then clinch it in the end with a winning goal. In the other semi final Parkvilla Meath beat a mixed team to set up a final with Midlands, with the Paris bound League Champions setting sail for the French capital with another trophy in the bag.

POWERCHAIR FOOTBALL HAS A NEW FAN Powerchair Football is gathering pace in South America with the formation of a South American Confederation and Lionel Messi was on hand to lend his support to the development of Powerchair Football in Argentina.

EXCITING TIMES AHEAD FOR EUROPE ZONE The EPFA announced recently that UEFA would become an official partner of the European association until 2017 so that can only mean more events to look forward to.