Last Saturday each of Glentoran's Academy sides piled their way into Cooke Rugby Club for the annual prize giving awards. Academy Director Conor Marlin addressed the packed crowd before Glentoran Chairman Terrance Brannigan spoke of the importance the club intends on placing on academy matters going forward for the foreseeable future. Glentoran manager Eddie Patterson and Assistant Paul Trainor were both in attendance alongside a number of first team squad members. Despite the big name appearances the star of the show was undoubtedly the Irish Cup which stood proudly at the front of the room.
Each team manager with his backroom staff then made an address to the crowd outlining each team's season. As has been reported throughout the year, the academy has had another excellent season with no shortage of silverware and awards to hand out to the boys. What perhaps was most exciting was the amount of players who represent their their county sides or else are apart of Manchester United, Liverpool or Nottingham Forest academies in Belfast.
Over the course of the next few weeks, glentoran.com will be providing detailed reports into how each of the academy sides performed this season. This is an opportunity for the boys to get the recognition of ordinary Glentoran fans for all the hard work and success they had achieved this season.
The following awards were handed out on Saturday:
U11s
Top Goalscorer- Ruari Gallagher
Player's Player of the Year- Ben Buchanan-Rollestone
Manager's Player of the Year- Barry Baggley
Most Improved Player-Matthew Wallace
U12s
Top Goalscorer- Matthew Strain
Player's Player of the Year- Lewis McGarvey
Manager's Player of the Year- Sean Gallagher
Most Improved Player- Malaghy Smith
U13s National League
Top Goalscorer- Joseph McMullan
Player's Player of the Year- Matthew Torrens
Manager's Player of the Year- Joseph McMullan
Most Improved Player- Callum Carson
U13s Lisburn League
Top Goalscorer- Raymond McMannus
Player's Player of the Year- Aiden Maloney
Manager's Player of the Year- Kyle Orr
Most Improved Player- Pearse Hanna
U14s
Top Goalscorer- Jordan Arbuthnot
Player's Player of the Year- Jordan Arbuthnot
Manager's Player of the Year- Tre Sterling
Most Improved Player- Kieran Mulvenna
U15s
Top Goalscorer- Luke Murtagh
Player's Player of the Year- David Cassells
Manager's Player of the Year- Andrew Wilson
U16s
Top Goalscorer- Harry Clarke
Player's Player of the Year- Ben Carson
Manager's Player of the Year- Curtis Brown
Most Improved Player- Jamie Mitchell
U17s
Top Goalscorer- Niall Finn
Player's Player of the Year- Ross Campbell
Manager's Player of the Year- Adam Marshall
Most Improved Player- Ciaran Clougherty
The Glentoran Academy would like to thank the members of the Board of Directors as well as first team playing staff for attending the day. Also, all the volunteers who helped make and serve food for everyone and lastly all the players and their parents for all the hard work throughout the season.