Tullamore Special Olympics team wins silver for Ireland

Amidst all the euphoria surrounding recent high profile professional sporting achievements, a small group of dedicated amateurs from the Tullamore area have managed to trump them all. Having been chosen to represent Ireland at the Special Olympics European Games in Portugal against 24 other countries, the Tullamore Town FC team confounded even their most optimistic supporters by winning their way through to the final against Switzerland. Together with their coaches Lesley Francis and Joe Connolly, who have been working with them for the last four years, they set off for Lisbon last Wednesday to take part in the five day tournament never dreaming that they could go all the way to the final of such a major international soccer competition. They earned their first points of the tournament with a fine 1-1 draw against Luxembourg with Patrick Moore scoring for Ireland. In the next round they were drawn in the same group as Luxembourg, France and Serbia. They lost their first game of the group 3-0 against a strong Luxembourg side but hit their stride in the second match against France with a terrific 6-0 win with Patrick Moore and Peter McCormack both scoring twice and Thomas Garry and David Matthews also getting on the score sheet. In the last game of the group they fought out an exciting 1-1 draw with Serbia to qualify for the final with the prolific Patrick Moore getting the all important goal. The final against Switzerland, which was played on Sunday, saw the Irish team dominate the first half and deservedly take a 1-0 half time lead through Peter McCormack. However, with the Irish team beginning to tire in the second half, two goals in the space of three minutes meant that the Swiss side ran out 2-1 winners. The team that brought so much credit to the midlands were Keith Murray, Paul Byrne, Peter McCormack, Alan Lonergan, Nicholas Minnock, Patrick Moore, David Matthews, Dessie Gonoude, Thomas Garry and Jonathan Fitzpatrick. Also travelling with the group were nurse Regina Healion and Anne Starling, Chairperson of Tullamore Special Olympics.