CORK CITY FC are Georgia-bound for the first-ever European Amputee Football Federation Champions League, with a squad of 11 headed to Tbilisi.
Their unprecedented success last year in the inaugural Amputee National League in Ireland saw the Rebel Army — managed by Chris McDermott and coached by John O’Flynn, who both work on the FAI More Than A Club project on Leeside — selected to participated in the competition.
The Cork City squad includes several Irish Amputee internationals such as Ruairí Murphy and goalkeeper Fergal Duffy, who both travelled with the national team to last November’s World Cup in Mexico.
With the games played on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May, the tournament involves six teams: City, AFC Tbilisi (Georgia), Dinamo Altai (Russia), Everton FC (England), Legia Warsaw (Poland) and Ortotek Gaziler (Turkey).
It’s a seven-a-side competition as opposed to the five-a-side league on these shores, so the City squad includes two players each from Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers.
“Preparations have gone well for the tournament and we’re looking forward to getting over to Georgia at the weekend,” McDermott said.
“We’re very grateful to the Irish Amputee Football Association for their support and our qualification for this tournament is testament to the work they’ve put in organising and developing the national league here in Ireland.
!It will be a tough weekend but a good opportunity for the lads to pit themselves against the best amputee players in Europe.
“The league in Turkey, for example, is semi-professional whereas our lads have only been playing regular amputee football for the last 18 months. We’d like to thank our national league rivals Bohs and Shamrock Rovers for lending us players for the tournament.”
And captain Kevin Cahillane added: “It’s an honour to be representing Cork City FC and Ireland in a European competition.
“We’d like to thank our sponsors – SiComm, IIS -Industrial Insulation Specialists, Conference and Event Staffing Solutions and our many player sponsors as without them we wouldn’t be in a position to travel to Georgia.
“All of the squad have been working hard over the last year and we’re really just looking forward to getting over and getting stuck into the games on Saturday.”
First up is Russia’s Dinamo Altai in the opening group game tomorrow [KO 10.45am Irish time] followed by AFC Tbilisi at 2pm.
The semi-finals and final is on Sunday, with all matches streamed via the European Amputee Football Federation’s (EAFF) Facebook page.
Cork City FC Squad
- Fergal Duffy (GK)
- Owen Corkery (GK)
- David Saunders (DF)
- Seán Murphy (DF)
- Dónal Bligh (DF – Bohemian FC)
- Kevin Cahillane (MF)
- Neil Hoey (MF – Bohemian FC)
- Kevan O’Rourke (MF – Shamrock Rovers)
- Stuart McEvoy (MF – Shamrock Rovers)
- Patrick Hickey (FW)
- Ruairí Murphy (FW)
Cork City FC Backroom Team
- Chris McDermott – Manager
- John O’Flynn – Coach
- Olan O’Mahony – Physio
Gavan Casey is joined by Ryan Bailey and Andy Dunne to look ahead to Saturday’s Pro14 final, look at whether Joey Carbery’s move has paid off and Jack Conan talks about how his body is holding up.:
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