Roy Keane helps launch new ADSL talent programme

It was an unforgettable occasion for the Athlone and District Schoolboy/Girl League on Thursday night as Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane attended a league event.

Keane was the guest of honour as the Athlone and District Schoolboy/Girl League (ADSL) launched its emerging talent programme for 2017/2018 in Athlone IT on Thursday last.

When he arrived on stage, Keane was given a rapturous welcome in the Douglas Hyde Theatre by a large crowd of Under 11, 12, 13 and 14 players, parents, and representatives of the ADSL clubs.

Each of the country’s 32 schoolboy leagues operates an FAI Emerging Talent Programme (ETP) to help identify and develop talented young players with a view to helping them to progress onto the international stage in due course.

Keane helped to officially launch the ADSL ETP programme for 2017/18 and spent almost two hours answering questions from transfixed young players and, in many cases, their equally star-struck parents.

* For a full report and pictures from the event, see this week's Westmeath Independent