Late Night League football in Louth
Mid-Louth Youth Service, along with the Football Association of Ireland and An Garda Síochána, recently hosted its annual Late Night League football programme in Ardee.
The games were open to boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and took place every Thursday night for a four-week period between November and December.
A diversionary initiative that was first introduced in various locations throughout Dublin in 2008, its purpose is to engage young people during peak anti-social hours, and provide them with the opportunity to socialise and play football in a safe environment.
In addition, it aims to break down barriers between young people and members of An Garda Síochána, and strengthen the overall relations within participating communities.
“It’s growing from strength to strength,” said Niall Newberry, who has coordinated the Late Night League in Mid-Louth for the past two years. “Over the four weeks, we engaged approximately 80 young people in the region. It’s a considerable jump on last year’s numbers, when the programme actually ran for an additional two weeks.
“One of the big pluses this time around was involving the young people from Dunleer, who we were able to provide transport for, thanks to the amazing staff at Mid-Louth Youth Service, as well as support we received from the FAI. The lack of rural transport is a huge disadvantage in this area, so it was brilliant to bus the Dunleer crowd to Ardee.”
An event celebrating the young people’s participation in the programme was held at Dee Hub last Thursday night, where Luke Hoey, Cameron Yore, Oran Lynch and Ryan McDonnell were recognised for their performance and presented with pizza vouchers.
And, presented with a medal for their participation and engagement was Jamie Coffey.
Garda Junior Liaison Officer Noel Loughran, Drogheda United FC general manager Hubert Murphy, and Cllr John Sheridan also attended the event to show their support.
“I’d like to thank Mick Neville and Paul Smyth from the FAI for all their help and support over the past couple of years,” continued Niall. “I’d also like to mention the local Garda unit for their engagement on the programme, in particular Noel Loughran, who along with Mick and Paul, was given the dubious honour of reffing some of the games!
“It’s also great to have Louth County Council on board, with John Sheridan and Jim Tenanty ensuring the lights were kept on for us every week. Hubert Murphy and Drogheda United FC have also shown continued support, while Dundalk FC have been great as well in terms of promoting the games on their social media channels, etcetera.
“We also had donations from 2 Brew and Spar Ardee, who very kindly provided us with endless supplies of water every week. Finally, I’d like to thank Damien McKenna, Beth Carragher, and the staff and volunteers at Mid-Louth Youth Service for their hard work, not least Alison Marsland, who ensured that all the jerseys and bibs were kept clean!”
As the Late Night League programme continues to improve each and every year in the Mid-Louth region, there are already plans to expand the initiative in the near future.
“Dundalk is now running the Late Night Leagues four times in a calendar year,” stated Niall. “The plan here is to hopefully run it twice in 2023 and go from there. Sports have always offered a simple, low-cost means of deconstructing barriers that exist in society, so it’s hugely important that more initiatives like this are taking place nationwide.”