​Ballinasloe Town Honour Club Legend

Pictured at the ceremony to formally name the spectator stand at Ballinasloe Town A. F. C. Groundsas the' Font Egan Stand were Font and family, friends, club committee members and club supporters.

Ballinasloe Town A. F. C recently held an official ceremony at the Curragh Grounds to mark the naming of the Clubs spectator stand as 'The Font Egan Stand'.

This was a fitting tribute by the Club to recognise 45 years of outstanding service to the Club by Font who during this time had served the club as a committee member, team manager and Groundsman. Prior to this Font had served the club as a player.
Club Development Co-Ordinator Johnny Walsh who officiated the ceremony stated: “Font Egan had managed street league teams for many years, club youth teams from under-eights all the way up to under 18s as well as adult teams and hundreds of youth players who played with the club can thank Font Egan for introducing them to the sport of Soccer.”

Font’s other achievements included working on the first club youth committee 30 years ago and the formation of the Roscommon and District Youth League and managing teams and assisting in the organising of the Clubs bi-annual trip to Liverpool to play the Hailwood Juniors Club.

The club Development Co-Ordinator also paid tribute to Font for the part he played as one of six people in the late 1980s in talks to successfully amalgamate the Dubarry Apache Soccer Club and Ballinasloe Town A. F. C.

(L- R) on the main pitch in front of the new clubhouse at Ballinasloe Town A. F. C. were Minister for Sport JACK CHAMBERS T. D., Senator Eugene Murphy, Johnny Walsh - Club Development Co-Ordinator and Barry ó Connor - Club Committee member and member of club ladies team management group.

The Clubs Senior Reserve team managed by Bobby Burke, Mickey Burke and Mark NEE are currently in top place in the Roscommon and District First Division League. Hopes are very high in the Club that the Reserve team can claim the league title this season. The team have currently played eight league games and have won seven and lost just one.

Two of the club’s underage players recently made their debuts at adult level. Conor Dowd made his debut for the Clubs Senior Reserve team at 16 years of age while 15-year-old Josh McCarthy has played with the Senior A team recently. This is a very good indicator that the extensive youth system is paying dividends for the club.
 
The Club Committee was absolutely delighted recently when Minister for Sports Jack Chambers T. D. took time out of his busy schedule recently while on a day-long visit to County Galway to visit the Curragh Grounds and to learn all about the club and its future development plans.

The Club are very hopeful that the imminent announcement of successful grant applicants for Sports Capital Funding will result in very good news for the Club.
 
Former Ballinasloe Town A. F. C. Club player Heather Payne has once again been starring for the Irish International Ladies Senior Team in the qualifying games for the 2023 Women's World Cup.
​
In her recent game versus Finland, which brought her total appearances to 21, Heather made an outstanding contribution to the Irish team throughout the game. Finland scored a crushing equaliser to make it 1-1, but Heather was not ready to settle for that as within four minutes she was racing down the flank creating the winning goal that was scored by Denise O’Sullivan.
The performance against Finland was vital following the team’s narrow 1-0 loss against Sweden and this result now sets ups the Irish team very well for the two forthcoming qualifying games to be played in the Tallaght Stadium versus Slovakia on November 25, and versus Georgia on November 30.

Pictured left to right recently at the Curragh Grounds, home of Ballinasloe Town A. F. C. We're Tony Coyne (Club Youth Coach), Heather Payne (current Ladies Senior International Player and former Ballinasloe Town player) and Gerry Broderick (Former Club Secretary and former Club player. Heather recently helped out up at the club with a training session and handed over one of her International jerseys to the Club.