Anybody ever get a trial with a club?

Whatsisname

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Is he really that good or is it because he looks like Bale?

Never seen him play just curious.

He really is, I'm not even exaggerating.

Pretty sure when he lived in Waterford, he didn't play A league football because it was too easy for him, just a few months before he went to Spurs.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

I knew the Cunninghan twins (not that well though). Greg played at City and was capped for Ireland under Trap. Crazy hearing about how people wanted him to be the new Irish left back (well, not so much anymore :pac:). Extremely nice person.
Funny thing was his twin, Dan, was as talented, if not more talented than him. A few years ago he went blind in one eye however, after an incident with a delayed-exploding black cat (firework). Such a shame, the two were always talked about a lot in Galway, I can only imagine how tough he found it when the doctors told him he would be blind in one eye and his twin went on to play for Man City. Haven't heard that much about Dan over the past year or two though, from what I heard he's was still playing at a reasonably high level in Galway, his brother also bought him a car from what I heard.

Also knew another Mervue ex-player, Stephen Folan, again not that well. He was a clown, ended up playing in Limerick from what I heard, used to be in the Newcastle reserves.

jonnyfingers

Went to school with John O'Shea. He was a year ahead of me and didn't know him that well, although some friends of mine did and are still good friends with him, one even went on his stag. Pretty sure I lined up alongside him for Bohs U-10s but that was a long time ago! When he was 15-16 I remember my Dad telling me about him. He was a referee and did some of O'Shea's games and said he was a class above all the other players. Saw a few games and didn't think too much, but on reflection it was because he made it look easy, probably because it was against that opposition.

I remember when he started getting attention from the premier league clubs. Dalglish was at Newcastle and brought him over. He met the whole team, saw a champions league game and got a few kits, tracksuits, etc. Think Liverpool did something similar. Then he ended up signing for United with Ferguson calling his house and speaking to his Dad I believe. That was just before his last year in school. Think there was an agreement between United and him that he had to finish the final school year first and not play any football during that year, probably to avoid any silly injury that might jeopardise his potential career.

However, we used to play a ridiculous 20-a-side game of football out the back of De La Salle school every lunchtime. It was chaos, mainly because everyone was in the same uniform so you couldn't really tell who was on which team! O'Shea joined in a couple of times but not often. Once he just showed up, won the ball, dribbled past around 15 people, juggled the ball past a few more and volleyed the ball into the top corner of the goal from about 30 yards. Then just walked off! Compared to that nutmegging Figo was easy!

My brother's claim to fame is that JOS knocked him out in one of those games. He took a shot which hit the brother right on the back of the head sending him flying! JOS picked him up with a typical Waterford "Jaysus, you alright boi?" and all was well.

leggo

I was always a goalkeeper (being a fat but agile kid ) when I started out. That was, at least, until I got put on the same mini-league team as Shane Supple one year and was swiftly put out-field.

Never got anywhere myself. My career was tainted by indecision: to play in goals or to try and score goals; to eat the banana or the Mars bar; to drink or train. I picked the wrong ones, so these days I only write about football.

My old next door neighbour is currently a pro. I won't tell you his name since there's no point dragging it through boards, but he's a Premier League player who was loaned out to a Championship side last season and has been called up to Ireland a few times (but never capped). The Sun also linked him with Man Utd a couple years back too. So I'll leave it to you all to figure that one out for yourselves.

Great guy, though, even if he was a bit of a prankster bollocks in school. He'd train from morning til night if he could find someone to play with (often that ended up being me until I decided that I wanted to play some PlayStation instead). One time he even brought me along to a training thing he did with some Irish coaches (during one of my million attempts to 'get serious about football'). He told me to lie and say that I was currently with a club (I'd been dropped the year beforehand and just played GAA) or I couldn't train. So I had to make up a ****load of terrible lies to the friendly coach - who was just asking me simple questions like who my team played at the weekend, who my coach was etc - while yer man literally wet himself laughing at my struggles. Suffice to say, I never went back.

He did, though, and is doing damn well for himself now: first thing he did with the money is decorated his mam's house. And, even in a country like Ireland where people will moan and groan about anyone who gets a modicum of success, you won't hear a bad word said about this guy in his hometown. Always knew what he wanted, worked his arse off (avoiding drink, women and any other temptation that came quick and fast at him once he started to make it), had to deal with a lot of ****e once he got to England, but he's there now and on the up.

Pat D. Almighty

Played for St. Pats u-13s-14's, then Leinster U-16s (rugby). AC Milan scout came to see me play in goal for Pats once. He saw that I wasn't as good as people made out

The_Kew_Tour

Pat D. Almighty wrote: »

Played for St. Pats u-13s-14's, then Leinster U-16s (rugby). AC Milan scout came to see me play in goal for Pats once. He saw that I wasn't as good as people made out

must have had something if AC Milan scout was watching you.

impressive.

con___manx1

my sisters boyfriend is at shefield united. he hasnt started for the first team yet but he was on the bench for the play offs so hopefully he will break into the first team next year.

Rushden

THFC wrote: »

I knew the Cunninghan twins (not that well though). Greg played at City and was capped for Ireland under Trap. Crazy hearing about how people wanted him to be the new Irish left back (well, not so much anymore :pac:). Extremely nice person.
Funny thing was his twin, Dan, was as talented, if not more talented than him. A few years ago he went blind in one eye however, after an incident with a delayed-exploding black cat (firework). Such a shame, the two were always talked about a lot in Galway, I can only imagine how tough he found it when the doctors told him he would be blind in one eye and his twin went on to play for Man City. Haven't heard that much about Dan over the past year or two though, from what I heard he's was still playing at a reasonably high level in Galway, his brother also bought him a car from what I heard..

This 100% true? Played against Dan in an u18 FAI semi final when he was with mervue ( him lb and me rw) , he was incredible that day and I didn't get a sniff, went on to play LOI with mervue and Dundalk then I'm pretty sure . Even more impressive if he's blind in one eye

Pat D. Almighty

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

must have had something if AC Milan scout was watching you.

impressive.

I'd great reflexes and positioning, but I was a bit short (5'8 now) and my goal-kicks were horrendous

FutureGuy

I played against Cork City in a friendly against their full strength team. We lost 11-0. Pat Dolan called my performance "good". Never got a trial.

Teasing b@stard.

I think he was being nice because their CB cleaned me out of it in pretty spectacular fashion. F'n buckled me.

master-t

Played in goal in DDSL and county majority of underage footy, but got a fluke call up to a group heading to Charlton for a trial match over 10 years ago. Didn't expect much of it tbh, as I was a keeper, our league directors put 2 teams together and one of the keepers going got injured, so my manager informed me I was now going.


Went over, got treated like Royalty (looking back it was just chicken burgers and chips in the club canteen but all the free lucozade you could drink), met the team - they had a number of Irish players in the squad, but in particular us keepers were fascinated with Dean Kiely and then the rest of the lads Mark Kinsella. (A young Scotty Parker was floating about too).


Played 3 full trial matches and conceeded 2 goals - 1 of which was a peno. Played a blinder, listened to instructions and took the training very seriously. Left feeling like that went well. Asked my manager when I got back what was the feedback like, he told me they signed the other keeper on an extended trial, that If I was consistently good I would have been recommended in the first choice keepers at the start. Heartbroken. The other keeper that Charlton had already agreed to sign was a young Irish Keeper by the name of Darren Randolph. Looking back, couldn't really complain.


Now it's 11-a-side Astro leagues, 5-a-side kickabouts and a season with the seniors.........Dazzler doesn't know what he's missing out on

aramush

Darren Randolph has popped up a lot on this thread! Must have been a popular young fella.

Eathrin

aramush wrote: »

Darren Randolph has popped up a lot on this thread! Must have been a popular young fella.

Well his father, Ed, was a very well known basketball coach in the area.

homerjay2005

There is a poster here who played at a really decent level in England for a current club who play in the championship and was managed by a man who has managed for years in the PL.

wont reveal him as he is a shy an assuming man, but all i will say is he is a United fan.

Adamcp898

homerjay2005 wrote: »

There is a poster here who played at a really decent level in England for a current club who play in the championship and was managed by a man who has managed for years in the PL.

wont reveal him as he is a shy an assuming man, but all i will say is he is a United fan.

You trying to write the next secret footballer?

Thecon21

I won player of the year a couple times

I played against Anthony Stokes twice..

Friend of mine signed for City when Sven was there too..

Francie Barrett

My young fella spent three weeks on trial with Ipswich Town last year, didn't make it.

He did say that there's an Dublin lad over there called Kemal Ramadan (go figure!) who is supposed to be incredible though.

Hulk Hands

Rushden wrote: »

This 100% true? Played against Dan in an u18 FAI semi final when he was with mervue ( him lb and me rw) , he was incredible that day and I didn't get a sniff, went on to play LOI with mervue and Dundalk then I'm pretty sure . Even more impressive if he's blind in one eye

True bar a couple of small things that im sure THFC won't get too upset about .
Dan may have had the odd year where he out performed Greg, but generally it was always Greg heading for the big time. Also, Greg was already at City when Dan had the accident, so it wasn't really that which robbed him of his chance. Two terrific players growing up though, mainly soccer but also gaa.

Vurnon San Benito

I once knew a guy who had....






nah fúck it..

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Rushden wrote: »

This 100% true? Played against Dan in an u18 FAI semi final when he was with mervue ( him lb and me rw) , he was incredible that day and I didn't get a sniff, went on to play LOI with mervue and Dundalk then I'm pretty sure . Even more impressive if he's blind in one eye

100% yea, from what I heard he picked up a glass bottle because the banger in it didn't explode, and when he picked it up it exploded. It was widely talked about out because of how good he was. I heard he gained some of his sight back, but it certainly wouldn't have been anything near to the vision he had. Of course, I haven't heard much about him over the past 3 or so years, other than he was playing at a relatively high level but was still pretty much blind.

Augmerson

6 month old thread lives, it lives!

Agent Smith

Eathrin wrote: »

Well his father, Ed, was a very well known basketball coach in the area.

HA! if its who i think it is, he used to do basketball in my school when i was growing up!

Eathrin

Agent Smith wrote: »

HA! if its who i think it is, he used to do basketball in my school when i was growing up!

Probably, he worked a lot with various schools, had a semi permanent job at another, coached a local basketball team and ran a summer camp.

Also he was a really cool guy.

campo

I know a few one lad played with Aberdeen for a while but is back in LOI now
another lad I know went over to Dundee Utd was offered a deal but failed a drugs test ( weed )
And I guy I grew up with used to go over to Man.Utd every summer from age 12 to 16 but then he started chasing tail and having a few drinks and that ended that

My son is 12 now and a scout for Barnsley recently approached me and said he will be keeping a eye on his progress so who knows

cournioni

Played once in a friendly game for Shamrock Rovers schoolboys then quit to concentrate on GAA. I used to play football with former Ireland U21 James Hand and went to school with Cillian Sheridan. I also know a guy who played at St. Pat's and Monaghan United in the 80's and 90's, great lad.