Mid-Louth Late Night League is huge success

The FAI Mid-Louth Late Night Leagues commenced again throughout the past month.

Approximately 50 games were played across a four-week period on Thursday nights, in which close to 100 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 years participated.

A diversionary initiative that was first introduced in various locations throughout Dublin in 2008, the Late Night League engages young people at peak anti-social hours, and provides them with an opportunity to socialise and play football in a safe environment.

In addition, it aims to deconstruct barriers between young people and members of An Garda Síochána, as well as strengthen the relations within participating communities.

The Mid-Louth edition of the Late Night Leagues has been coordinated by Niall Newberry and the staff of Mid-Louth Youth Service for the last number of years.

He said: “This is the first time we’ve ever run the Leagues during the summer, so we weren’t quite sure what the numbers were going to be like. We engaged the bones of 100 young people across Ardee and Dunleer over the four weeks, which was in fact a slight jump on our numbers from last November, so we’re absolutely delighted with that.

“A huge advantage this time around was having the use of the Garda bus, which allowed us to incorporate Dunleer once again. The young people observing the local Garda unit wanting to help them is a significantly powerful piece of work in our view.

“We really can’t send enough gratitude to Austin Kelly, who provided us with the transport every week, collecting the Dunleer batch and dropping them back home from Ardee. It was also great to have Niall Keenan and Noel Loughran involved as always.”

An event celebrating the young people’s participation on the programme was held last Thursday night inside the Foroige CABLE Project in Ardee, where Jamie Coffey, Blaine Corrigan, Cillian Yore and Oisin Nevins were recognised as the four Players of the Week.

Also presented with Apache Pizza vouchers for their participation was Rian McShane and Evan Behan, while Tadisa Musarurwa scored the Best Goal of the Late Night Leagues.

The Late Night League programme in Ardee is run by Mid-Louth Youth Service, in conjunction with the local An Garda Síochána unit and Football Association of Ireland.

“I’d like to thank Mick Neville from the FAI for all his continued help and support,” added Niall.

“Also to the staff and volunteers at Mid-Louth Youth Service and Dee Hub that got involved. John Sheridan of Louth County Council and Hubert Murphy of Drogheda United FC have also been great supporters of this initiative. Not forgetting Spar, who provided us with water every week, and Niall from Sharkey Sports for pumping up our footballs!

“It was also great to have additional support from the CABLE Project, in particular Shane Ryan, who kept goal for a team every week. We’re really looking forward to working together going forward, starting with the upcoming Leagues a few months from now.”

The Mid-Louth Late Night Leagues are hosted at the Fairgreen Astro in Ardee from 7pm to 9pm, and run every Thursday night throughout the months of June and November.

For more info contact Niall at midlouthyouthservice@deehub.ie