End of Season Message from our Chairman

June News and Chairman’s Message

Now that the 2023/2024 season has concluded, I wish to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support of Dalkey United. It has been a very busy season, with 35 teams and 700 children and young adults training and playing matches every week. None of this would have been possible without the commitment and hard work of all our team managers, coaches, and age group coordinators. Thanks to each of you for giving so much time and effort to your teams.

There has been plenty of on-field success this season, but special mentions must go to our U21s on winning the Leinster Football League U21 Section B and reaching the U21 Cup Final, and to our U17s and U18s who also made Cup Finals. Congratulations to the players and coaches of all three teams.

The highlight of the season was undoubtedly our two-day Champions League tournament which saw over 400 children play in more than 100 matches over the May Bank Holiday weekend. A great deal of work went into preparing this and the club owes a huge thanks to the group of volunteers who organised it and to everyone who helped out over the course of the two days and contributed to the tournament’s success.

Finally, thank you to my fellow committee members for the significant amount of work that you do behind the scenes.

We hope everyone enjoys the summer and look forward to welcoming you all back next season.

Dara Marnell, Chairman

Limited Space Remains for Summer Camps at Hyde Park

Hyde Park will once again be busy with a full slate of summer camps. We’re also planning for a girls-only camp with female coaches. Camps will run for the weeks starting June 19th and 26th for children born 2008-2010 and for the weeks starting July 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th for children born 2011-2016. Camp registration is open.

Registration for 24/25 Season

Registration for the new season will open very shortly, via ClubZap. We are happy to announce that we will be holding membership fees at last year’s level. Planning for the new season is already underway and finalising player numbers as soon as possible is a priority. To assist our preparations, please let team managers know whether your child will or will not return for the 2024-25 season. Stay tuned for specific details over the coming weeks.  

Save these Dates

• 29 August : Dalkey United AGM in the Clubhouse.

• 31 August and September: All boys 11 a-side leagues start

• 7 and 8 September: All Boys 9-a-side and All Girls 11-a-side leagues start

• 14 and 15 September: All Boys and Girls 5 and 7 a-side leagues start

• 28 September: Dalkey United Gala Evening

U21’s Win League Title

Congratulations to Head Coach Franco Georgescu and our U21 team on winning their league title with a very impressive record of 13 wins from 16 matches, scoring 72 goals along the way. They also narrowly finished second in the Patsy Brown Cup. The team came on strong down the stretch and captured our first title at this level as a club in recent memory.

U15 Girls Tour Bavaria

Our U15 girls, who played the season at the highest level of football in Dublin, DDSL League 1, enjoyed a successful tour to the Bayern Cup in Augsberg, Germany.

The tournament included top academies from Germany and Switzerland, in a 7 aside format. The girls fought through a 0-0 draw in their first match to go on and win their group, with two consecutive wins. Seeing through a nail biting quarter final win over a tough side from Switzerland, the girls ran out of steam in the semi-final and lost to the ultimate champions.

Players, parents and families all enjoyed the outing and were thrilled to see the girls finish 4^th out of 16 teams in their age group.

U14 Boys Take on Liverpool FC in Malta

Congrats to our U14 boys who returned from a successful trip to Malta and demonstrated tremendous form finishing in the top half of the ultra-competitive KHS Cup.

The highlight of the trip was an opportunity to play Liverpool FC’s top U14 academy team, in which the lads fought hard but ended losing 0-3 despite holding them scoreless for the first half. Playing eight matches over two days also saw the lads match up against Blackburn Rovers, a tough team from Moldova called Radu Rebeja Academy, and the top clubs in Malta including Hibernians FC.

These boys represented the club on and off the pitch with class. Well done!

U13 Boys Highlights

The U13A1 boys’ squad had a difficult start to the 2023-24 season. The squad had been moved up two divisions by the DDSL following last season’s cup win, and the higher standard of opponents took time for the lads to acclimatize to. By the middle of March, we had lost 8 of our 9 league matches. From there, the squad achieved an extraordinary turnaround, embarking on a 13-match unbeaten run in the league to the end of the season (8 wins and 5 draws).

The hard work and commitment of the boys to keep improving their skills and consistently come to training with a smile on their faces, through adversity, following Franco’s training program throughout the season, were extremely impressive. The squad won their last two games away from home 4-0 and 5-0, against teams that had caused us big trouble earlier in the season. In the final 7 games of the season, we picked up more points than any other team in the division. A huge well done to all the lads in the squad on a remarkable turnaround and season.

Referee Training Course

The Football Association of Ireland is thrilled to announce the launch of Referee Month, set to take place throughout July 2024. In celebration of the essential role referees play in sports, the FAI is offering free in-person referee beginner courses in every region across the country. This initiative follows on from last years inaugural ‘Referee Week’ which saw over 250 new referees trained.

Referee Month will provide aspiring referees with the knowledge and skills needed to be able to referee grassroots football matches safely and effectively. To sign up for a course click on www.becomearef.ie