As we come to the end of another year it's time to reflect on the past year and what it has meant to Leixlip United. Football returned after Covid in 2021 and thankfully it carried on into 2022. On the field our under age section had one of our most successful seasons ever. Our under 16 Premier team won a league and cup double. Our under 18B squad in their final season in schoolboy football had to settle for Runners up in both league and cup. Our under 13C squad capped a fine season with promotion after finishing runners up in their league. Our under 19s won their league and the under 20s had a brilliant win in the Leinster Junior Shield competition.

We had two senior ladies teams competing in the EWL and both were very competitive in their respective leagues with the second team coming up just short in their league cup final. Our Senior Saturday side achieved promotion to the Major 1A league and are currently on course for promotion again this season. Hopefully the success of the 19s and 20s alongside the Saturday team will feed into making the first team a force to be reckoned with in the near future. Our senior ladies were also selected by Cadbury to take part in their “The Game is On” promotion - a campaign that’s all about supporting the women’s game in Ireland at grassroots level and giving clubs like ours a bigger platform to attract players, supporters and volunteers. Below are pictured Kayla Cleary and Kerrie Sleith.

I must mention some of our golden oldies from the Over 35 team who capped a fine season by winning the Masters Shield competition. A hat trick from Robbie Martin in the final helped them get the better of Monasterevin.One of the biggest success stories in the club has been the absolute explosion of Interest in girls football. We now have teams from under 8 to under 12  and two more girls teams playing under 15 and the U17’s who were promoted to the MGL Premier League last month. It’s a fantastic achievement for this U17s team who have worked hard to make the top flight after 7 years together, with many of the girls representing the club since they were 8 years old.

We have  teams at under 8 and 9, two teams playing under 10, one at under 11 and two teams at under 12. That means we now have nine teams playing girls football and another group in the Academy ready to go next September.  The success of the Irish ladies international team in qualifying for next year's World Cup has been another boost to girls football and I fully expect even more teams in our girls section in the coming years. 

All these teams, of course, need managers and coaches and we are highly indebted to all of them. Some of our coaches also coach in other clubs in Leixlip as well as our club and the time and effort these men and women give to the kids in Leixlip is, to use an American expression, truly awesome. 

This year has also seen our own Andrew Omobamidele continue to impress and we look forward to seeing him play for Ireland again in the new year. Two of our ex players Luke Kehir and Sean Mackey were also capped by Ireland at under 16 and 17 this year. A number of our ex players are playing League of Ireland  football  and we wish them all well in the coming year. A number of other players who started out with the club and moved on have also been capped at under age level for Ireland showing the importance of those formative years in helping these young lads reach their potential.

Off the field the biggest project has been our decision to replace our existing astro and also put in a new astro pitch beside it. The reason for the second astro was simply too many teams and nowhere to train, particularly in winter time. We are fielding 46 teams plus an academy this year and that number will increase in the coming years. The project has unfortunately been delayed and hampered by a couple of issues, mainly the Irish weather but we are confident our existing astro will be back in use very early in the new year and the second astro will follow shortly after. 

Sadly this year has seen the passing of a true legend of Leixlip United with the death of Larry Kenny just recently. Larry gave a lifetime of service to the club as a player, administrator and up until his passing as our beloved President. Along with his great friend Ray McCauley they started our Mini Leagues nearly 50 years ago and they have grown to such an extent that for many they are the highlight of their year on the June bank holiday weekend. This year just before he started to present the trophies to the Runners up and winners, Gary Byrne told the boys and girls present that without Larry there would not have been a mini leagues. Gary looked for a little cheer but all the boys and girls began to chant “Larry! Larry!”. It was a special moment we will all remember and we certainly won't forget Larry Kenny's contribution to Leixlip Utd. 

I would like to thank all our sponsors for their contribution to the club over the last year especially Croi Laighean Credit Union who are now sponsoring our under 8s to under 13 girls section and O'Regan Motors who are sponsoring our Academy section which begins on the 29th January 2023. GlenEaston Spar, Carton Retail Park, Jones Engineering  and Intel who all sponsored our mini leagues this year.

We are a voluntary organisation and all money received goes back Into the club to improve our facilities and fund the cost of gear and coaching courses among other things. We are hugely grateful to all our parents and grandparents for all their support during the year. I am particularly grateful to Paula Flood, Robbie Martin,  David Dolan and Joe McGing  for all their work on our astro project and to the rest of my executive committee colleagues for all their help and commitment to our club. 

We are currently selling tickets for our Christmas draw which is our main fundraising project of the year and it goes without saying how important the draw is for the club. The draw itself will take place in the Salmon Leap on Sunday 18th December at 5pm after the World Cup final and all are welcome to join us on the day from around 2pm. Tickets can be bought on https://leixlipunited.com/products

In conclusion I want to thank everyone who helped the club in any way this year and I really want to put on record our thanks to the Liffey Champion for their Leixlip Utd corner in the paper. Even in this day and age of technology the joy of seeing your name in print or your picture in the paper cannot be underestimated, so thank you. I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

Yours in sport

Paul Martin, Chairman