Oak Leaf School of Excellence

On Wednesday 21st July 26 hardy souls attended the extremely wet Oak Leaf School of Excellence delivered by Chris Collins, Richard Ferris and Diarmuid Scullion. The lads worked on Kicking and Tackling and played small sided games to compliment these skills.

Thanks to all the coaches and players for taking part in such extreme conditions, the next Oak Leaf School of Excellence will be Wednesday 28th July @ Owenbeg 4pm - 5.30pm.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

There will be two Under 14 Schools of Excellence in Owenbeg over the next couple of weeks for Under 14 footballers to attend: Wednesday 21^st July – Owenbeg 4pm – 5.30pm and Wednesday 28^th July – Owenbeg 4pm – 5.30pm

Players who attend three or more Oak Leaf School’s of excellence throughout the year can purchase the new Club Derry Jersey for £20. If you can let me know roughly how many of your Under 14’s are attending that’ll help me plan the sessions

Remember these are open to any Under 14 out of Under 12 football who wish to develop

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

On Monday 5th of April 68 young Under 14 players took part in an Oak Leaf School of Excellence at a blustery Owenbeg. 25 young players were presented with their Club Derry Jersey for attending their second session. Thanks to Diarmuid Scullion and Richard Ferris for coaching at the school.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence Saturday 23rd January @ Limavady GAC

56 players from 12 different clubs attended the Oak Leaf School of Excellence at Limavady GAC on a chilly Saturday morning. The focus was skill technique. They were put through their paces by the very capable coaches under taking their level 1 football course, overseen by Chris Collins and Richard Ferris. The morning went really well, the children were tired at the end of it but they seemed to really enjoy it from the feedback they gave.
The following players have taken their first step to earning the new Club Derry Jersey:

Dungiven: Fintan McGilligan, Conor Granliss, Seoine O' Donnell, Ronan O' Kane, Rory Ballard, Michael McCloskey, Oran McGonigle, Cahir Mullan, Ciaran Steele, Conor Owen, Oran Downey, Martin Henry, Paddy McCloskey and Padraig Judge; Faughanvale: Jamie Gamble; Greenlough: Ryan Henry, Matthew Bradley, Paul Tohill and Caolin Diamond; Limavady: Emmett Fenlan, Matthew Magee, Dillon O' Brien, Liam Boyd, Declan Clancy, Finbarr O' Brien, Conor G, Paul Aitken, Conor Hartin, Dillon McDermott and Cormac Quigley; Ballymaguigan: John Bradley, Liam Cassidy and Martin K; Foreglen: Padraig Morghan, Ruairi McFeely and Liam O'Hara; Glen: Shane Turner, Cathair Glass, Conor Glass, Cathal Mulholland, Danny Tallon and Tomas Convery; Ballerin: Bobby Mullan and Pearse McIntyre; Slaughtneil: Padraig McMullan, Donal Purvis and Conor McAllister; Desertmartin: Eunan O'Kane; Swatragh: John Walsh, Joseph Grant, Cathal Quinn, Sean Quinn, Patrick Kearney, Francis Kearney and Patrick Turner; Drum: Gabriel Farren.

Thanks to all the coaches for doing their bit, to Limavady GAC for hosting the event and providing refreshments and to the players for attending. The next Oak Leaf School of Excellence is on Saturday 27th February 10am – 12 noon @ Castledawson GAC

Unfortunately the City Oaks had to be cancelled on Saturday morning due to Celtic Park health and safety team deeming the pitch unplayable due to frost. The next City Oak’s will also take place on Saturday 27th February @ Celtic Park.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence visited Foreglen G.A.C.

The weather was great for this Oak Leaf School Of Excellence on Saturday 31st October, 24 Under 14's took part helped out by 7 club coaches, the topic was conditioned games. All coaches and players took full part in the days activities
A word of thanks to a few people:
Richard Ferris for coordinating the day
Foreglen GAC for use of their ground (Micky Kelly for opening)
To all the club coaches would not have happened without you.
Finally to the young players for coming along looking forward to the next day:
Saturday 21st Nov at Banagher GAC

Oak Leaf School of Excellence @ Drum

U14 School of Excellence at Drum GAC Topic Catching and Kicking. Again the weather was great, 51 Boys took part helped out by 14 club coaches we had two parts one on Catching and the other on Kicking two simple but very important skills a great day with coaches and players taking full part
A few thank you's:
Drum GAC for use of their ground (Cormac Mc Closkey for opening).
Paul Simspon for helping out with the coaching on the day.
Liam O Kane for taking a few photos.
To all the club coaches who assisted
Finally to the young players for coming along look forward to the next day - Saturday 31st October at Foreglen GAC

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

On Saturday 19th September the Oak Leaf School of Excellence took place at Dungiven GAC the topic was Tackling and Blocking. Again the weather was great,50 Boys took part helped out by 13 club coaches. The players were taking oart in Tackling and Blocking exercises, the day went well with all players and coaches taking full part.

Thanks to Dungiven GAC for use of their ground in particular Brian McKeever for opening all up, to Richard Ferris and Paul Simpson who led the coaching, to all the club coaches who got involved with the coaching and finally to the young players for coming along looking forward to the seeing you all out the next day in Drum GAC on Saturday 10th October.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

The next session of the Oak Leaf School of Excellence will take place on Saturday 19th September at 10am in Dungiven GAC. Derry minor manager Richard Ferris will deliver this session and everyone is welcome to attend. Richard would be delighted to see as many club coaches there as possible to come along and help out with the session.

Further info about the School of Excellence

The Oak Leaf School of Excellence is a program aimed at the under 14 footballer wishing to improve their game. Each session will focus on a particular aspect of the game with expert advice provided by specially invited coaches. The school will run in both north and south Derry venues.Participation in the school is free of charge but places are limited. Register as soon as possible with Chris Collins (email: chris.collins.gamesmanager.derry@gaa.ie ) or call 028 777 42990. Participants must be aged between 13 and 14. If a player is still under 12, they are not eligible to take part.

Scoring with Enda Gormley

On Saturday past Enda Gormley, 2 time all star corner forward took a session in Glen Maghera on the art of scoring. The session was quite poorly attended probably due to the poor weather and the Under 14 season being concluded, however the players who did attend were treated to an excellent session delivered by Enda. Thanks very much Mr Gormley!

This was the final Oak Leaf School of Excellence pencilled in for the summer, however there will be a few indoor sessions during the winter month's for players to attend.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence with Enda Gomley

The next session of the Oak Leaf School of Excellence will take place on Saturday 15th August at 11am in Glen, Maghera. The focus of the session will be on scoring. This is the third school of excellence. The previous two were delivered by Tony Scullion and Richard Ferris. They focused on tackling and kicking respectively.


Further info about the school of excellence
The Oak Leaf School of Excellence is a new program aimed at the under 14 footballer wishing to improve their game. Each session will focus on a particular aspect of the game with expert advice provided by specially invited coaches. The school will run in both north and south Derry venues.
The first session was held on Sat 6th June, 2pm at Banagher and focused on tackling. The session was conducted by Derry legend and widely respected coach - Tony Scullion.
Participation in the school is free of charge but places are limited. Register as soon as possible with Chris Collins (email: chris.collins.gamesmanager.derry@gaa.ie ) or call 028 777 42990. Participants must be aged between 13 and 14. If a player is still under 12, they are not eligible to take part. Please note that there is a maximum of 5 players allowed per club.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence with Richard Ferris

On Saturday 4th July, Richard Ferris led a coaching session in Celtic Park focused on kicking. Over 50 young Under 14's attended the session looking to pick up a few tips and they weren't disappointed. Some pictures below:

Thanks to Richard for leading the session and to Diarmuid Scullion, Paul Simpson and Francis Scullion who assisted with the school.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence Visits Celtic Park

Following the success of the 1st School of Excellence earlier in the month our second date has been confirmed for Saturday 4th July in Celtic Park at 11.00am. Head Coach is Derry Minor Manager Richard Ferris and the topic will be Kicking.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

Following the success of the 1st School of Excellence earlier in the month our second date has been confirmed for Saturday 4th July in Celtic Park at 11.00am. Head Coach is Richard Ferris and the topic will be Kicking.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence Huge Success

The first Oak Leaf School of Excellence for Under 14 Footballers got of to a flying start. 78 young players were treated to a day of coaching led by Tony Scullion in the sunshine at Banagher.

The next School of Excellence will be announced in the coming days.

Special thanks to Paul Simpson, Ashleen McCaul and Shauna McCallion who ably assisted, to Banagher for the use of their grounds and to all the lads who made the effort to turn out.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

This week we have advertsied our first Oak Leaf School of Excellence to be held in Owenbeg on Saturday 6th June at 2pm. The hope is that players who would like to gain that little extra bit of coaching can do so. Each session will have a key focus. I am delighted that Tony Scullion will lead the first ever Oak Leaf School of Excellence and it's pretty obvious his session will concentrate on Tackling (wouldn't be much point bringing Tony into do shooting! Can't mind ever seeing him score, I'm sure Tony will correct me).

The Oak Leaf School of Excellence is only for Under 14's, if a player is still Under 12 he is too young. The sessions are free of charge, however people have to register with me via email at chris.collins.gm.derry@gaa.ie

The maximum we will take will be close to 100. I expect places to go on this pretty sharp so please make sure and register early to avoid disappointment.

Depending on the success of the first session we would hope to have at least four more School's of Excellence before the end of the summer and vary the locations.