A collaboration between the FAI, St. Patrick's C.Y.F.C and Cambridge FC supported by local multi-national Google took place in Ringsend last week.

The Football Festival took place at Ringsend Park over six days providing football for all members of the local community. The Festival started on Monday evening and ran for the full week culminating in a Family Fun Day on Saturday. The events catered for everyone from the age of four up to 65, male and female, and inclusive of all abilities. The activities included the Frame Football Academy, CP Football Academy, Amputee Football Academy, Football For All Academy, SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Legends match, Walking Football and many more.

Google who have their European Headquarters located in nearby Barrow Street are the main sponsors of both local clubs. Community Engagement Officer at Google, Teresa Weafer was involved throughout and was impressed with the final product. Speaking after the medal presentations Weafer was delighted Google were able to support the event. "It's so inspiring and positive, I was quite overwhelmed when I came and to see so many local people out, the mix of families, the vibrancy. We've turned up and shown up because we very much want to part of it.

"The real champions here are the organisers - the sports groups, community groups in the area. Congratulations to the FAI, St. Pat's and Cambridge, they included absolutely everybody, it's been brilliant for everyone."

Local TD Chris Andrews who is a regular visitor to Ringsend Park was thrilled to see children of all ages and abilities taking part in the festival. 'It's been a fantastic week and it's only happened because of the huge number of volunteers. It's such an inclusive event with the boys and girls, Football for All programme and we had walking football during the week.

"This event doesn't happen by chance, it's because of the huge commitment of the FAI Development Officer Jonathon Tormey who has a fantastic relationship with the kids and you see the impact he has in making everything happen. The clubs, Jonathan and the community have made it a great week for everyone - young, old, neurodiverse, neurotypical, men, women." Andrews added.

FAI Board Member Gary Twohig helped to present medals and trophies and was hugely enthused by the collaboration between the clubs, Council and sponsors Google. "We have people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds playing football, it's really great to be here. You can clearly see the work that is being done with the fantastic facilities here and the collaboration between both St. Pat's, Cambridge FC and Google."

Jonathan Tormey is the Development Officer for the area and was delighted to see the success of the six-day event. "With the FAI and Google, this we hope will be the start of a long-standing partnership and we will continue to develop programmes to better the community. We were lucky to have some Google and FAI representatives down on the day to present the medals and trophies to participants.

"The festival showed what can be done when a community comes together with the one goal - to get people active through sport. The help from Dublin City Council and the volunteers from the surrounding area and Grassroot Clubs made this week a fantastic success. The football future looks bright in the Dublin 4 community for many years to come." Tormey said.