05/09/2026
U16 Division 1
The 2026/2027 U16 Division 1 Season kicked off for Park U16A this afternoon. We lost a few players from last season and have introduced new players into the team and will be operating in Division 1 this season. As with any new team, it will take time for the boys to gel, and we were always going to struggle in the first game of the season.
And so, it turned out as we lost our opening game at home to Ballyhar. We started ok and on the 13th minute we won a free just outside the box. Jonas Collins, who has just joined Park, took on the responsibility and struck a super shot which beat the keeper. We lost some control around the middle after that, and we gave away a sloppy goal on 22 minutes. Score at half time was 1 all.
10 minutes into the second half, the referee gave a free to Ballyhar on the edge of the box. In fairness to the Ballyhar player, he struck an unstoppable shot past Ben. Ben had a fine game but there was no stopping that free kick. We tried hard after to get an equaliser and although we had a few half chances, we didn’t really trouble the Ballyhar keeper. It was a disappointing start to the campaign, but the lads will get better after more training sessions and are used to playing within a new structure.
Thanks to Ballyhar for a hard-fought game and referee, Tom Kerrisk.
Captain today was Tom Balodis and Player of the Match was Jonas Collins.
Team: Ben O’Sullivan, Darragh Flahive, Daniel O’Leary, Tom Balodis, Ryan Cummins, Cody Hunt, Kyle Power, Jonas Collins, Conor Maguire, Kian Cronin, Ivan Castro, Max Fitzgibbon, Conor Mc Cannon, Olav Czerwien.
Coaches: Ken Cronin, Tom O’Leary, Yohan Hunt.
Report: Tom O’Leary
Photos: Ken Cronin
