Glentoran FC

The Official website of Glentoran Football Club / Pride of East Belfast 

Flickr

YoutubeTwitterFacebook

Academy News

Academy News

Academy Update: Under 18 Squad

The under 18s squad has showcased the club's commitment to youth development, fostering talent from a young age and successfully promoting players to the reserves and first team this season. Although results have varied, the young players have embraced the challenges, gaining valuable experience. The club is pleased with the progress at the mid-point of the season.

Impressively, the club has contributed 5 players to the under 16 international team (Milo Beimers, Darragh McCann, Jayden Charnley, Jack Faloona and George Feeney) and another 5 to the under 18 schoolboy team. These achievements highlight the quality of talent being nurtured within the club.

As the season progresses, the under 18s are eager to finish on a high note. The players are now looking forward to their upcoming Easter trip to London, where they will face formidable opponents in Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham, providing a valuable opportunity for the players to further showcase their skills on a larger stage.


Under 18 Internationals Casey Smyth, James Douglas, Callan Farley, Jude Johnson and Owen O’Neil (4th February 2024)

==========================================================

Academy News: 5 picked for Victory Shield

Congratulations to five Glentoran Academy players who have been called up by Northern Ireland Under 16s for the 2023 Victory Shield Squad

Milo Beimers, Darragh McCann, Jayden Charnley, Jack Faloona and George Feeney will all head to Wales next week  for the tournament, also featuring Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, which will run from Monday (6 November) until the following Saturday (11 November).

Well done boys and have a great Tournament. (3 November 2023)

================================================

Foyle Vase Win for Glentoran 09s

A select team made up of our 2009 A and B squads came together to play in the Foyle Cup this year.

Using the opportunity to step up the intensity and fitness ahead of preseason the boys played a year up within the 08 competition.

Group games were hard fought against strong Newhill, Draperstown Celtic and Inishowen YL Select teams and the lads came away with a win, a draw and a loss.

After being filtered into The Foyle Vase, a Thursday semi-final against Cabbrey Rovers led the boys to a final on Friday against St Oliver Plunkett 08s.

This was the game of the week with the 2 teams giving everything to come away with the win.

The Glens would go 1 down early on before battling back to take a 2-1 lead, but Plunkett converted a spot kick on the stroke of half time to draw level again and setup a thrilling 2nd half.

The second half saw SOP try to make full use of their years advantage in size and strength and did their best to make the game as physical as possible. After 10 minutes of coming to terms with the fight The Glens settled into playing some brilliant football and scoring 2 good goals to go into a commanding lead.

St Oliver Plunkett would rally and score a third to make the last 10 minutes interesting but any nerves were calmed with a brilliant breakaway goal in the dying moments to give the lads a well deserved 5-3 win on the day.

Some brilliant performances both individually and as a team over the course of the week and valuable experience with playing a year above.

Really well done to all the lads and a special mention to Scott McCoubrey who suffered a nasty rib injury and we continue to wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to his return as soon as possible.

Well done men!

Squad;  Callum Courtney, Sam Ferguson, Archie Irvine (C), Jack Brown, Scott McCoubrey, Cole Smith, Justin Gillespie, Matthew Lowry, Thomas McCrissican, Jack Crawford, Dan Preston, Aodhan O’Hanlon, Ryan Watt, Ross Robinson, Dylan Jardine, Jack Spence

Article by Stephen Lowry

More Success for our Academy teams

Congratulations to two of our Glentoran Academy squads on a triumphant end to the 2022-23 season:

Glentoran 2009s  (above) won the U14 National League title today with a game to spare. A long and difficult campaign came to its conclusion with a 4-2 win away to Dungannon. The memorable season returned a haul of 4 trophies, beginning with the Craigavon Cup and Belfast Youth Cup in the summer, followed by the National League Plate and National League Championship in the last week. The boys were also beaten finalists in the prestigious Super Cup NI having defeated English Premiership outfit Leicester City on the road to the final. Many congratulations and well done to the boys for all their hard work all season. Squad: Callum Courtney, Archie Irvine, Conor Watson, Charlie Campbell, Matthew Lowry, Jack Brown, Zac Dickson, Cameron Reid, Joel Kerr, Matthew McCann, Luke Murray, David Green, Aodhan O’Hanlon, Sam Ferguson, Ryan Watt. Congratulations also to the coaching team of Stephen Lowry, David Lowry and Declan Lynch.

Glentoran 2010s won the National League Cup Final yesterday with a 3-0 win over Tri Star at Stangmore Park, Dungannon.  The Glens goals came from Daniel Patterson, Mason Ayre and Eoin Harden. Man Of The Match was Glens number 19, Cillian Murray. The team on the day was: 1. Phoenix Blayney, 2. Daniel Patterson 3. Damian Sitnicki 5. Mason Ayre 6. Cameron Hayes 7. Eoin Harden 8. Enzo Bosket 9. Adam Nelson (capt) 12. Jacob Patterson 19, Cillian Murray 21. Rory Prenter subs: 4. Jamie McCreery 11. Noah Doak 14. Riley McCormick 23. Oli Robinson 31. Jack Leighton. Congratulations also to the coaching team of David Hayes, Steven Patterson and Paul Prenter.

Its great to see our Academy teams achieve such success and this can only bode well for the future of Glentoran. Well done boys! (14 May 2022)

====================================================================================

Barcelona Cup Triumph for Glens Boys

A Glentoran Academy youth squad is celebrating after winning a major tournament in Spain. Glentoran Under 13s surged to victory at the prestigious Copa Jordi in Barcelona over the Easter weekend.

John Lyness' 2010 squad beat off opposition from Finland, Italy and France to be crowned champions, with their coronation sealed with a penalty shootout win over Athletic Alcione Milano in a tense final.

It was a proud moment for the East Belfast ,side who have endured some heartache in recent times, having lost their last two finals following penalty shootouts.

"The Copa Jordi was played from Thursday to Monday in Barcelona. The venue was a place called Soccerland Catalunya," John told Belfast Live.

"During the whole tournament, there were in the region of 5,000 participants and supporters. It is absolutely huge. Teams from across Europe participated and it was a very high standard. There were two sections in our competition, five teams in each group. We had one team from Finland, two teams from Italy and a French team. All different styles of football, shapes and sizes - such a mixture."

John was previously coach at Crusaders for three years before taking up the reins at Glentoran four years ago. He is a Glens fan himself, making this recent success even more special.

"We have built this team over the past three or four years, during the pandemic and everything else When Covid passed I wanted to do something special for them. There are lots of fantastic tournaments such as Blackpool and the Foyle Cup, but we wanted to go the extra mile.

We needed 13 players to go to Spain, and we ended up with 17 plus three coaches. Chris Boucher and Peter Kane joined me on the trip. We also had 25 supporters, so 45 of us in total all travelled together from Dublin. The boys have done tremendously well and deserved something special. This was a great learning curve for them, seeing other cultures and places, and also other standards of football."

The boys kicked off their tournament with an 8-0 win over their Finnish opponents and followed it up with a 1-0 and 6-1 wins over two Italian sides. Despite losing their final group game, they were already guaranteed a place in the showpiece final. The winners of Group A played the winners of Group B in the final, and we already knew we were in the final before we played our last group game.

We played our final on Sunday afternoon against Athletic Alcione Milano and things didn't go our way for large parts of the game. We had a player sent off which was unfair, and then we thought we had won a late penalty but our player got booked for diving. You start thinking it is not going to be our day, but we battled back from a goal down to equalise and then force penalties."

John says his side's previous disappointments in penalty shootouts didn't give him much confidence heading into another spot-kick decider.

"We lost our last two finals on penalties and you have those nerves and doubts. But five lads put up their hands to take penalties and they all excelled. My son Oliver is our goalkeeper and he saved the first penalty, we scored our next three and their fourth penalty was saved again by Oliver. Our fourth penalty was taken by Daniel Boucher who scored our opening goal in the tournament. And he ended up scoring our final goal, too.

"It was manic at the end, with players, coaches and parents all overwhelmed by Glentoran taking the Copa Jordi title back to East Belfast. We went to Barcelona just looking to score a goal. Then we won our first game and things snowballed from there. It kept going and going, and the belief grew that we could go on and win this.

I am so proud of the players for the effort they put in against quality opposition. A lot of the other teams praised Glentoran for the standard of football we played. It was an experience of a lifetime and these kids will remember this for a long time. And they deserve every plaudit they get."

The Copa Jordi success also keeps our U13s on track for a potential quadruple this season.

John: "We play in the Premier League of the South Belfast Youth League. So far this season has been fantastic. We have lost one out of 18 league games. We are in the semi-final of the Premier League Cup, and we need one point to win the Premier League title. We have already won the Supplementary League and have claimed the Copa Jordi. So it could be a very special season for the boys."

Story courtesy of Belfast Live (14 April 2023)

==================================================================================

Global Glens: Youth International Roundup

Our 8 young players have returned to the club following international duty at various age groups. 

Under 19 European Championship Elite Qualifying Round.  

Aaron Wightman has had a number of club senior appearances under his belt this season. The Glentoran scholarship graduate played every minute for the Northern Ireland U19 side in their three games against Norway, France & Romania. Showing his versatility, Aaron played on the left hand side in a number of formations throughout the week. A great experience to play at such an elite level tournament, the French team they faced had forward Mathys Tel who has played 16 times this season for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. 

Aaron Wightman: “Overall it was a great experience I really enjoyed playing in them types of games against some of the best players in Europe at my age age. We are disappointed with how our 10 days went as a group as we thought we were capable of playing a lot better in the 3 games. However I will personally take a lot away from the experience as it helped me understand the level you have to get to to be at the highest level.”

Under 17 European Championship Elite Qualifying Round. 

We had four players all involved in the Northern Ireland U17 squad, the most from any other club. Goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly was joined by midfielder James Douglas and talented attackers Rhys Walsh & Casey Smyth.  Three tough games for the young side, they conceded an injury time goal against Holland to lose 2-1, followed by a 1-0 defeat to England and then losing 4-1 to Denmark in their final match.  

Goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly started in match-day 1 against Holland and was awarded man of the match, however a head injury received late in that game ruled the shot stopper out for the rest of the competition. Lorcan was looked at by medical staff and will hopefully be back playing soon.

James Douglas: “The standard of opposition was a different level, playing against some of the best players in Europe really showed the level I must aim to get to. As a team we performed really well, we were disappointed to concede in the last minute against Holland. Overall it was a great learning experience, it showed me the physical demands of playing at the highest level.” 

Casey Smyth: “It was a great experience, we showed as a nation that we can compete with other top sides. I was hoping to get more minutes on the pitch, but I still took a lot away from the trip.”

Lorcan Donnelly: “Coming off the back of performing well at the last tournament, I went into the elite qualifiers full of confidence. The opening game against Holland was tough, we gave a good account of ourselves against one of the best teams in Europe. Unfortunately my tournament was cut short due to injury, but I am recovering well and look forward to getting back on the pitch with Elliott and the rest of the goalkeepers.”

Rhys Walsh: “It was a great eye opening experience and shows that we can compete with top nations. I thought at times we matched them in the games. It has given me the confidence that I can compete at a higher level.” 

Under 18 Schoolboys Centenary Shield

Callan Farley has been representing the club in the prestigious U18 Schoolboys Centenary Shield competition. The defender has started all three games for Northern Ireland so far against Wales, Scotland & Republic of Ireland. Despite drawing their opening game against Scotland, Northern Ireland lost against Wales & Republic of Ireland respectively. 

Callan Farley: “The centenary shield journey so far has been surreal, we still have 1 game left. The three teams we have faced have been very good, there are players from Kilmarnock & Hibernian in the Scotland side for example. The pace and intensity of the games have been high, it was a great learning experience as one simple mistake could have such an effect.”

Under 16 UEFA Development Tournament

Conor Haughey & George Feeney travelled to Poland to compete in a UEFA Development tournament against Poland, South Africa & Luxembourg. An opening 2-1 victory over South Africa followed by a 3-0 win over Luxembourg, in their final game the side lost 3-0 to Poland. 

Conor Haughey: “It was a great experience to go and play other international teams to prepare us for the European qualifiers in Italy.  I was delighted to start in every game, it gave me a lot of confidence that the coach trusted me in the games.”

George Feeney: “I really enjoyed my time away with the Under 16 squad. It was a good experience especially with me playing a year up. It’s a real honour to play for Northern Ireland due to my family connections.”

All 8 players have came back with valuable experience in their time away. Playing against different nations in elite level games. Something that will no doubt benefit them going forward in their development. (4 April 2023)

=================================================================================================

Global Glens: U17 & U19 Elite Qualifiers

A number of our young players have been called up to represent Northern Ireland for the upcoming Elite Qualifying Round for Euro 2023. 

Lorcan Donnelly, Casey Smyth, who both attend the Glentoran Elite Scholarship Programme, along with James Douglas and Rhys Walsh have been named in the Under 17 squad that will compete in a 4 team tournament against Holland, England & Denmark. 

Aaron Wightman has been named in the Under 19 squad that will travel to face France, Norway & Romania.  The 19 year old has played 22 times this season for the 1st team having progressed through our academy, development teams and graduated from our Elite Scholarship Programme.

A really big achievement for the players to be included in the panel for their respective tournaments.

Manager Rodney McAree: “I'm delighted to hear that the 5 boys have been selected squad for the upcoming Euro Championship elite qualifiers, all 5 boys have been excellent this season for our U20 team or when they have featured in first team games and they all deserve their recognition! Best of luck to Aaron, Casey, James, Lorcan, and Rhys. Well done to you all!”

Head of Goalkeeping Elliott Morris: “Fantastic to see Lorcan get into the squad. He is an exciting talent and one that we have high hopes for in the future. It shows that he is one of the best goalkeepers in the country at his age and has improved massively which is a testament to his attitude. I am also delighted to see Mason Munn who has also been called up, a Glenman that spent a number of years with the academy before joining Rangers.” (16/03/23)

===============================================================================================

Casey Smyth Signs Professional Contract

Glentoran Football Club are delighted to announce that academy player Casey Smyth has signed a 3 year professional contract with the club. 

Winger Casey, who is the son of Glentoran legend Gary Smyth joined the academy aged 13 from local boys club Ridgeway Rovers. 

The 17 year old, currently in his first year of our Elite Scholarship Programme in partnership with Ashfield Boys High School will continue to complete his studies whilst training full time with the club.  Casey has benefitted greatly from the additional training the course has to offer and has also been involved in the ClubNI set up and represented County Down at the prestigious SuperCupNI tournament. 

Manager Rodney McAree: “Casey is the latest of our young up and coming players to sign a professional contract. Casey, who is in the first year of our Elite Scholarship Programme at Ashfield Boys’ High School, is following Aaron Wightman, Lorcan Donnelly and Josh Stewart, in signing his first professional contract with our club. We have no doubt Casey will continue to develop and progress into the senior squad.”

Club Legend Gary Smyth and father of Casey: “His mother and I are very proud that he has signed on a professional contract. He’s an Ashfield pupil and obviously a Glenman through no fault of his own. Casey is a very quiet lad, but I know he’s delighted to commit his future to the Glens and he’s really progressed and enjoyed his football with the reserves this season under Norman, Andy, Davy and Jim.” (06/03/23)

======================================================================================

First Pro Contract for Lorcan

The club is delighted to formally announce that our young goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly has signed his first professional contract with the club.

Lorcan (16) – regular keeper with the Glens Under 20s – joined the club from Cliftonville. He played international for Northern Ireland Under 16s and has now been promoted to the U17s for the forthcoming away match in Finland.

Glentoran Goalkeeper Coach Elliott Morris has worked closely with Lorcan and he said to www.glentoran.com : “I’ve worked with Lorcan since he was eleven and he has progressed superbly. He has a great attitude and work ethic and I’m not surprised he moved so quickly from the U18s up to the 20s. I’m looking forward to seeing him progress into our full-time setup.”

Congratulations Lorcan. (05/09/22)

=========================================================================================

NI Call for Aaron

Congratulations to our young first team squad member Aaron Wightman on being selected for the Northern Ireland U19 squad for their two friendlies against Malta’s U19s next month as part of ongoing preparations for Euro qualifiers this autumn.

Gerard Lyttle’s team will face Malta on Wednesday 8 June and again on Friday 10 June. Both games are due to be staged at the Malta Football Association training complex in Ta’ Qali, with kick-off at 20.30 local time (19.30 UK time).

A number of Aaron's former Glens Academy team mates are also in the squad, including Charlie Lindsay, Jamie McDonnell, Conor Falls and Matthew Carson.

Congratulations Aaron and all the very best for your trip. (23/05/22)

=========================================================================================