Over the Easter break Glentoran Academy were proudly represented on the international scene and once again, in a week of International tournaments for Northern Ireland, Glentoran Academy provided more players to the NI set up than any other club.
Something we are immensely proud of and hope to see continuing for a long time to come!
We had Charlie Lindsay captain Northern Ireland under 12s in a tournament in Spain alongside his Glentoran team mates Sean Brown, Harry Wilson and Matthew Carson.
U12 – left to right, Sean Brown, Harry Wilson, Charlie Lindsay and Matthew Carson
At under 14 Northern Ireland also visited Spain to the same venue as the U12s with Barry Baggley representing his club and country in fine style as always.
The boys had some terrific experiences in Spain across both age groups coming up against the likes of Porto and Barcelona.
At under 15 we had no fewer than 5 call ups for a trip to the Rotterdam Cup where Club NI lost 1-0 in the final to Club Brugge. Ethan Warnock, Paul McLaughlin, Mal Smyth and Christopher Conn all seasoned players at this level, with Jamie Glover earning his first call up to the international scene having been recruited last summer to become an irreplaceable cog in our machine at left back for the u15s.
U15 Back row left to right – NI U15 Manager Darren Murphy, Mal Smyth, Paul McLaughlin, Jamie Glover
Front row left to right – Ethan Warnock, Christopher Conn
Finally our under 16 team has four lads called up for Northern Ireland’s tournament in France where they met Peru, Morocco, France and England. Josh Tipping, Paul O'Neill, Oliver Webber and Caolan Boydmunce earning the honours.
In total we had 14 young Academy players plying their trade across Europe for Northern Ireland this week and we thank Club NI and the Irish FA for the tremendous experiences for all the players as well as congratulating our own fantastic coaches for helping bring these lads to this level.
Well done boys - you are a credit to Glentoran Football Club!