We were delighted on Wednesday morning to welcome Cillian O’Connor to our school to open our new school pitch.

Cillian visited all of the classrooms chatting with the children about the demands of being an inter county footballer – the preparation, nutrition , hydration and even the sport’s psychology! He passed on top tips (which we will return to later in this post) and asked the children about their own playing experiences to date. While he was asked excellent questions in all the classrooms, it was lovely to see some of the children lost for words in the presence of their hero!

Upon completion of his classroom visits we assembled to open our new pitch. Cillian spoke of how fortunate we were to have this wonderful resource at our disposal and he hoped that in time many footballers who play on it would develop and get the opportunity to wear the Charlestown and Mayo colours.

A special word of thanks to Cillian for taking the time to visit and for the wonderful way he spoke to and engaged with the children who really enjoyed his visit. We often speak in our school about role models and Cillian is most certainly an excellent role model for someone so young. Finally a sincere thank you as always to Kieran Durkin for all his hard work and interest in developing our pitch. It is unrecognisable from how it was when we closed last summer. We hope all our children continue to enjoy using it for years to come!

Cillian’s Top Tips

1. Practice – Practice – Practice !
Strong and weak side , handpassing and kicking .
2. Have fun , make sure each time you go out to play, you enjoy yourself and have lots of fun.
3. Be confident and believe in yourself. It’s ok to make a mistake.
4. Listen to your coaches. Work with your teammates. Respect your opponents but have no fear!
5. As in class you must work hard to achieve on the sports field. Similar to tip 1, you must keep focusing on improving your skills!