DEJA VU LAST ROUND END OF THE SEASON CLASH LOOMS AGAIN!! The third round of the AIPF Premiership took place in The Watershed Killkenny.on Sunday 21st of February. By the end of it a repeat of last years finale was set up only this time Midlands United have the goal difference cushion going into the final round. The Kilkenny round opened with a scoreless stalemate between Belfast Trailblazers and M and F Utd. Midlands had a comfortable victory to start their day off against the Trailblazers in the second match of the day. DCU then followed with a 4-0 win over M and F, leaving the Kingdom Rebels to arrive for an encounter with the big two. First up was Midlands who had the match wrapped up in the first half. Rebels had warmed up a bit more to the pace of the game by the second match and at times frustrated DCU and were proving difficult to break down. In the end DCU came away with a 5-0 win. Going into the final round in April Midlands find themselves with a five goal advantage as they seek to claim back the Premiership title with DCU needing to put in a stronger performance than they did in Kilkenny if they want to hold onto the Premiership silverware. The battle at the other end of the table will also be intriguing with the three teams eagar to take that third place and the likes of the Kingdom Rebels trying to go one better than the previous two draws against M and F Utd and Belfast Trailblazers. Both Midlands United and DCU Storm as they both continue to prepare for the European Champions Cup in Denmark next October will want to be going there as the current AIPF Champions so mark Sunday April 10th in your diary folks, the ountdown starts here. P W D L F A GD PTS MIDLANDS UNITED 6 5 1 0 34 1 +33 16 DCU STORM 6 5 1 0 28 0 +28 16 M and F UNITED 6 0 3 3 2 14-12 3 BELFAST TRAILBLAZERS 6 0 3 3 1 13-12 3 KINGDOM REBELS 6 0 2 4 2 34-32 2
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!! It was fantastic to see a new team appear on the scene with great enthusiam from players parents and carers, Heroes Power Soccer team arrived for there first ever appearance at the AIPF Championship on February 20th in the Shoreline Leisure centre in Greystones. Having been developing over the past five months the team had been having weekly training sessions in a small hall in Cork in preparation for their Championship debut. While their first two matches couldn't have been a tougher arrival to competitive Powerchair Football, against Lightening and Belfast Trailblazers they still showed signs of quick learning and good things to come from such a young squad and who knows maybe some stars of the future will emerge over time. The battle between the two northern teams ended in a 2-1 victory for Lightening Powerchair Football Club and already sets up the second match between the two in April as another one to look forward to. P W D L F A GD PTS LIGHTENING PFC 3 3 0 0 21 1 +20 9 BELFAST TRAILBLAZERS 3 2 0 1 13 2 +11 6 HEROES POWER SOCCER 2 0 0 2 0 14-14 0 ST JOEYS 2 0 0 2 0 17-17 0
POST CHRISTMAS IRELAND CAMP RESUMES Ireland camp resumed after the Christmas break in Shoreline Leisure Greystones on the 6th and 7th of February. There were a couple of absentees over the two days but this didn't stop Adam and Kat putting the group through their paces with the usual skills and drills forming part of the Saturday sessions and more work on three on twos and two on ones. The recent General Election led to the planned March date scheduled to be in UL Limerick to be postponed so plenty of time for the players to practice their individual skills in March and come back to the Ireland Camp in April eager to impress the coaches.
GREYHOUND RACE NIGHT FUNDRAISER IS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS Shelbourne Park was the place to be on Saturday February 27th where the AIPF Greyhound Race Night took centre stage. Armed with a plethora of great prizes including signed Conor McGregor T-shirts, dinner and hotel overnight vouchers the Greyhound Race public had little chance in getting past the line of raffle sellers as they came in for a night of betting and to be fair most people were only too happy to buy a ticket and support the occasion. The AIPF membership had been selling tickets for the last couple of months. Some companies had also kindly sponsored advertisements in the Race Card on the night and nine races had people as sponsored dog nominators. The Greyhound fundraiser could well become an annual event in the AIPF in the future.
PLAYER PROFILE : JOSH DILLON - M and F UNITED Favourite Football Team: Manchester United Favourite Movies: Fast and Furious Favourite Actor: Vin Diesel Favourite Book: Sir Alex Ferguson Autobiography Favourite Foods: Noodles Favourite Drinks: Lucozade Orange Favourite Band/Musician: Tupac Favourite TV Programs: A League Of Their Own Most Hated TV Program: Downtown Abbey Favourite Comedian: Jack Whitehall What is your biggest phobia: Snakes Place you would most like to visit: New York Sports Person you most admire: Nani If you could attend any sports event in the world what would it be? Super Bowl If you owned a racehorse what would you call it? Rock and Roll If you could invite five people to dinner dead or alive who would they be: Tupac, James Cordon, Vin Diesel, Ice Cube and AP McCoy If you could be someone else for the day who would you be : Lionel Messi What lifts your spirits when you are down? A game of FIFA What character trait do you want to be known for? Funny When you close your eyes what do you see? All different Shapes What makes you smile? Watching Football What makes you angry? Missing Power Soccer What is the most desirable trait another person can possess? Being able to speak different languages What could society do without? Politics What is your most prized possession? My Power Soccer Chair What is your most favourite place on earth? Florida What are three things that people don t know about you? I used to be a Liverpool fan I played GAA I used to live in Meath If you could be given the answer to ANY one question you could ask what would it be? Why do footballers dive Which player do you most admire from another Powerchair Football team? Emmet Daly Which Powerchair Football team do you look forward to playing? Midlands United
TECHNICAL GROUP MAKING PROGRESS Back in July 2014 when Limerick hosted the European Nations Cup at the Congress meeting a commitment was made to deliver a technical specification under which new and existing equipment would have to conform to in order to make the sport of powerchair football safer and fairer from grassroots level to elite international level. The work on this has been slower than anticipated but it is now making progress and results and expected very soon. A lot of work has already been carried out with various chair manufacturers in the UK and overseas and discussion meetings have been held to plot the way forward. The aim would be to provide a list of approved powerchairs and give chair manufacturers an approved technical specification for building powerchair football specific chairs. Where needed recommended approved modifications to existing chairs would be communicated to make them safer and more user friendly for players. A university in the UK has also been working on a new method of speed testing to check certain other aspects of the chair speed that the current rolling road cannot do. SOUTH EAST UNITED CONTINUES TO GROW With up to twelve players having already come and tried Powerchair Football in the South East it remains one of the main development aims to get the club up and running on their own in the near future. If you have any photos or articles for the March issue please send them on to this email donal@aipf.ie