On Sunday 20th March 2011, two teams will compete at Tallaght Stadium in the final of St. Patricks Day Cup, a new international invitational tournament for the elite players with Cerebral Palsy in Europe.


The tournament will see Ireland clash with 3 giants of CP European football, Holland, Scotland and England. The tournament will run from Wednesday 16th to Sunday 20th March in 3 venues across South Dublin St. Francis FC, Peamount Utd, and Tallaght Stadium, the final will also see the black knights which are the Irish Defence Forces Parachute Team showing their support for the boys in green when they parachute the final match ball in from 5,000 feet above the Tallaght stadium. It promises to be a great day out.

The tournament is one of the highlights of the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) St. Patricks Day week long celebrations. The council have been very generous as a partner in hosting the tournament with the Football Association of Ireland and Cerebral Palsy Sports Ireland.

Billy Coman of SDCC commented "South Dublin County Council is delighted to be a part of the St Patrick's Day Cup here in the county. The St Patrick's Day Cup is a great opportunity for us to view the team that will be representing Ireland at the upcoming European Championships and Paralympics games in 2012 and indeed all the participants. It is fantastic for people to see soccer played at such a high level, and an incredible achievement for the young players to represent their country at senior international level. They are a credit to themselves, their families and their community and I wish them the very best of luck in the Tournament".

Other key partners in making it possible for the event to take place are Irish Defence Forces and the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel who will accommodate all 4 squads for the week.

The CP team play 7 a side football on a slightly smaller 11 a side pitch. Ireland are currently ranked 6th in the world and the goal is to reach the podium at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Luke Evans Irish captain commented ‘Playing for my country is a truly great honour. Since I joined the Irish Cerebral Palsy (CP) Football Team, I have gone on to represent Ireland at World, European and Paralympic level. The greatest highlight of which was to medal at the European Football Championships last June'

Evans is just one of a 12 man squad that trains in Dublin City University's high performance sports facility. The team is grant funded by the Irish Sport Council's High Performance Programme which supports fellow high performance athletes including Katie Taylor, Derval O Rourke and David Gillick. Paul Cassin, Team Manager stated "The quest for football excellence is always a challenging one. Our squad train 12 hours per week and get key high performance training support from some of Ireland's top training experts. The lads are a credit to the FAI jersey and sit proudly amongst the FAI's international representation'.
To qualify for the Irish CP Football team, players must have a physical disability called Cerebral Palsy which is a movement disability that can affect a player's ability to move. The disability comes in many different forms and can arise at birth or as a result of a stroke or an acquired brain injury.


The Irish CP Football Team form part of the FAI's ‘Football for All' programme which aims to provide equal opportunities for high performance players with disabilities to represent Ireland at world and European level. Oisin Jordan, Manager, FAI ‘FAI Football for All' programme commented our aim is to prepare these players to the highest professional training standards so that they can compete to the highest standard and hopefully deliver to major medal success for Ireland. The FAI is totally committed to this agenda. We are currently looking for players to join the CP Football Team. If anyone in the Irish football community knows a player playing at junior or senior level standard with Cerebral Palsy, please contact me on 086 6079223'.

Further details of the FAI Paralympic Football Talent Identification programme can found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKxLn3k_EkE. The FAI will be holding talent assessment days on March 18th @ 11am in Peamount Utd, Dublin and April 16th at 11am in Dublin City University's soccer centre.

Fixture list:
Wednesday 16th March
11am - Scotland v England (St. Francis FC, Dublin)
3pm - Ireland v Holland (Peamount Utd, Dublin)

Thursday 17th March
11am - Holland v Scotland (Peamount Utd, Dublin)
3pm - Ireland v England (Peamount Utd, Dublin)

Saturday 19th March
11am - Holland v England (Peamount Utd, Dublin)
3pm - Ireland V Scotland (St. Francis FC, Dublin)

Sunday 20th March
10am - 3rd & 4th Play off (Tallaght Stadium, Dublin)
12.30pm - FINAL (Tallaght Stadium, Dublin)

Cassin stated ‘having such top international opposition coming over to Dublin to participate in the FAI St Patricks Cup is a great opportunity for the lads to showcase the quality of their football skills and our ability to compete for Ireland. I would be delighted to see as many local people from the football community attend these games as I believe this is a sports occasion not to be missed'. Oisin Jordan concluded by saying ‘The FAI/CPSI St Patricks Day Cup is a unique opportunity for the football community in Ireland to see one of our top international teams' performances against top international opposition.