Ross O'Callaghan's Italian Diary

Ross O'Callaghan went to Italy with Shamrock Rovers to play in the Ciociaria Cup and kept a dairy of events. Read here Ross's account of what was a great time for the young Hoops. 

Day 1 Monday: After weeks of training in preparation for our trip to the Ciociaria Cup we met up at the stadium in Tallaght at 12.30pm to board our bus to take us to Dublin Airport. I was so excited about going to Italy that I couldn't sleep the night before. After we checked our bags in we all headed off to McDonalds. I was hungry but I knew that we would have another meal after we would touch down in Italy. We had to wait in Dublin Airport as our flight was delayed by one hour. They said it was on account of high winds but we think it was something more to do with President Obama being in town as we allowed to take off shortly after two big helicopters landed near to where we were. Anyway, we finally arrived into Rome airport at around 10pm. We were all a bit tired at this stage but we still had a further two hour journey by bus before we were to reach our base at Settefrati. Upon arrival there at around midnight we were taken to a restaurant, which was actually closed but was opened especially for us. It was great to get some nice grub into us before we then made the short journey to our accommodation to where we arrived at around 1am. I was put into the same room as Shane, Jordan, Ryan, James, Paul, Martin, Michael and Alex. By the time we got into our rooms we were too tired to unpack so we all went to sleep straight away. 

Day 2 Tuesday: We were up at 10am for breakfast; my mind was on the match against Reggina which was due to kick off at 3pm. Some of the lads took a walk up the town and found a shop which was great! We had an hour or so relaxing before we traveled to the restaurant for our pre-match meal. This wasn't the same place as the one we dined at the night before but it was really nice and we were to have most of our meals here for the rest of the trip. This restaurant was called 'San Andrea' and was near Casalattico where we were to play Reggina. I was a bit worried of what I would be given to eat because I didn't know the type of food that the locals ate but we got pasta and it was really delicious. We then made our way to the pitch. I was a small bit nervous but that was only normal. When we arrived at the pitch the first thing we did was inspect it and we didn't like what we saw. The surface was full of tiny pebbles and dust and just small patches of grass. We got ready and had our warm up, it was really hot but cooled down later. After the warm up we went back into the dressing room and the team was announced. I was anxious to hear if I was going to be on it and luckily for me I was. We were unlucky in the match with a disallowed goal, I think had we scored then we would have pushed on from that. Our goal came from the penalty spot with a sweetly taken shot from the captain Jordan Tuite. We lost 3-1 and it was a score line that didn't do justice to our performance. After the game we went back to the restaurant for our main evening meal and we didn't do much after that as we were all aware that we had another important game the following day. 

Day 3 Wednesday: We were allowed to stay on in bed until around 12pm as our game that day against another Italian side, Arpino, wasn't due to be played until 6pm. As we had a bit of spare time on our hands some of us took a walk around Settefrati. Although the town was tiny we were able to spend some time taking in the amazing views and scenery there. We went by bus to the restaurant for our meal at about 3.15pm and then traveled on to the ground, which was the same one as the previous day. Reggina and Hungary were playing before us and we managed to watch about 15 to 20 minutes of that game and that was useful for us as we were due to play Hungary the next day. Just before the game, the referee came into our dressing room to do a passport check on all of the players; that was a new experience for me and it showed just how serious the organisers took the tournament. We dominated the game throughout but unfortunately Arpino got a goal; we had numerous chances before that but didn't put them away. We finally scored in the second half when Dylan Byrne took a free kick which was well-placed to the goalkeeper's left. From then on we were all over Arpino but not taking our chances earlier in the game came back to haunt us when they scored a second and we just couldn't pull one back. The game ended 2-1 to Arpino. From the match we then went to a lovely restaurant named the Savoy which was located in the historical centre of Casalattico. The coaches sat at separate tables inside while the whole squad of players had an area out on the balcony where we had pizza and chips, it took a long time for the food to be served but it really lovely and worth waiting for. After we went back to the hostel we again had our ice baths. Even though we had the ice bath the night before it seemed worse this time but I found that it did relax my muscles. I sat up chatting about the match with Tanaka, Mark, Michael and 'Adser' and then it was time to catch up on some sleep. 

Day 4 Thursday: Our game against Hungary was supposed to be played at 3pm but it was unexpectedly pushed back to 6pm so we had a bit of time on our hands to rest. We were to play in a new venue too and that was to the delight of everyone in the squad. We went for our meal in the usual place and then it was on to Alatri where we were due to meet Hungary. When we arrived there it was raining but that suited us and it was also not so hot either as the previous two days. As we got off the bus we could see that there was another game going on between Zilina and Lazio which ended in a 0-0 draw. Our game kicked off later and it was a delight to play on the astro turf surface in comparison to the pitch at Casalattico. For the first half it was pretty even with Hungary getting in a very good chance and Rovers hitting the crossbar. The second half started off in the same way with their number ten making the most of their chances. They got a break when our goalkeeper Paddy Reilly was unfortunate to concede a disputed penalty which they converted. From that goal we showed that we had character; we kept attacking to try and get the goal that would level it. Our hard work paid off in the dying embers of the game, when the ball was cleared in the air thirty yards out Paul Clifford saw his chance and he took it superbly with a sublime finish into the top corner to make it 1-1. The game was practically over at that stage and when the final whistle went you could see the disappointment on the face of the Hungary players as the result meant they had failed to qualify for the semi final stage. It was an historical result for Shamrock Rovers, for us to achieve a result like that against the national team of Hungary was a tremendous achievement and it was something that we fully deserved on the balance of play. After the game some of us met the president of the tournament, Mr. Enzo Tebi, and posed for a photograph with him outside the dressing room. Paddy McQuaid made an official presentation to the president on behalf of Shamrock Rovers. Back at the hostel we were able to look back at photographs of the game on Robert's laptop and there was a great sequence of photos of the celebrations after Paul scored. The lads thought that was so funny that they must have been heard all over the valley such was the sound of laughter. Poor Glen in particular got a right slagging. We didn't have a game the following day but we still got to bed as quickly as we could as were going to travel up to Rome on Friday; I had never been there before, except for when we landed on Monday, and I was really excited about going. 

Day 5 Friday: We got an early morning wake up call at 7am and I have to say that everyone got up out of bed fairly quickly. I think they were all looking forward to the trip to Rome. It was very hot on the bus and when we arrived at the Vatican City at around 11am the temperature was 31 degrees. We walked around the open spaces of the Vatican and posed for a full group photograph before queuing up to go inside. Everyone went in together and the lads were really interested and took loads of photographs. I took about 50 to 60 photos inside the Vatican. I found it interesting at first but I have to admit that after a while I became a bit bored. Still, it was a lovely experience and it's great to say that I was there. Luckily, we had Mario Borza with us and Isolina Forte who was the daughter of our bus driver Franco. With their local knowledge we managed to move swiftly from the Vatican to the Spanish Plaza after a short journey on the Metro and when we arrived there we headed off to grab some food at McDonalds. We were told to meet back at the fountain at 2pm and when we were finished at McDonalds a couple of us went into the shops to have a look but all we could see was designer clothes, way too expensive for us. We sat along the fountain in the scorching heat for a while and when the whole group had assembled we then headed off again on the Metro, this time to the Coliseum, It was really amazing, as soon we came up from the Metro station we could see the coliseum right in front of us; it was very striking. We went is as a group, all the players got in for free as we were underage and it was good thinking on the part of the adults to bring all the passports along as proof of our age. We spent about an hour inside, there was loads of people there taking photographs and you couldn't but help feel this sense of history in that place. We were all in good form and when we came out someone had a bright idea that we should ask two nuns to pose with us for a photograph. It was unique for us anyway! We headed back to the Metro again to travel to the place where our bus was waiting for us and even at that time of the evening, around 6pm, it was really hot. We went back to our favourite restaurant at Casalattico where the owner Silviano again put on a lovely meal for us. Each time we went there Silviano came out to personally look after us. It was back to Settefrati again and we were all told to get to bed as quickly as possible as we were due to play New York in a friendly game the next morning. 

Day 6 Saturday: We were allowed an extra hour in bed, we didn't know why at the time but when we had our daily team meeting later in the morning we were informed that the game against New York was off. I was annoyed as I wanted to play another game. Later in the morning we went to a town called San Donato and trained on the pitch there which was owned by the local club. Our driver lost his way and he had to take the bus down a very narrow road which had some very low lying tree branches. We had a good laugh when one of the branches came in through the window and hit one of the lads on the head, he got some surprise as he hadn't expected it. The pitch at San Donato was really good and we had a good session there. There was some serious stuff during the session but we also had a bit of craic. It was really warm out there that morning. Afterwards we learned that we would play San Donato's Under 18 team the next day and that was a piece of welcome news. We then traveled on to the Aqua Park in Gallinaro, which was owned by a man named Remo Salvucci. He let us into the swimming pool and we had a bit of fun there playing volley ball in the water. We relaxed for a while before we had pizza for lunch, I didn't like it so I gave it a miss. At 4pm we went into Atina to do some shopping for two hours. All I bought was a packet of jellies and a big bottle of coke. Again, it was a really hot day so when we got back to the Aqua Park we relaxed by the pool for a while and then we all watched the Champions League Final together on a big television which Remo set up in an area outdoors. We had pizza and chips and this time I did enjoy it but being a Man U fan I didn't enjoy the result of the game. Poor 'Adser' got no pizza as they ran out by the time they came to him and Mick and Shane had to share theirs with him. 

Day 7 Sunday: It was really hot when we took to the pitch at San Donato for the friendly. I think that was one of the hottest days we had during our stay. We knew before we traveled to the game that the San Donato players would be older than us but that didn't bother us as we glad to have the opportunity to play another game and this time on a good pitch. I came off at half time happy enough with my own performance. Over the whole week Adser, James, Martin, Paul and Dylan Spellman impressed with their performances. We beat San Donato 4-1 and Dylan scored a hat trick. We had some pasta back at the hostel in Settefrati before traveling back to Atina where this time our coaches were going to play in a friendly game. We watched from the sidelines as Mick, Kenny, Mario and Shane took to the pitch. We had a bit of fun slagging Shane, that was our chance to get our own back on him! After another great meal at our favourite restaurant we traveled to a town called Casalvieri where there was a festival taking place. The town was buzzing when we arrived and later on even more people came and filled it up. We went to the open air concert for a while and then walked around the carnival. We thought we might have to go home at 10pm but everyone was having such a great time that it was decided that we should stay on until the festival closed. We were still there at 2pm when the fireworks display took place. It was a really good time for us and we all had a good bit of fun. The people were really friendly and a man by the name of Angelo Marsella brought the entire squad up to a pizzeria and treated us all to pizzas, that was a super gesture and showed just how highly we were regarded there. 

Day 8 Monday: After the long day we had on Sunday we stayed on in bed for a bit longer and then had to pack our bags after breakfast. This was our final day in Italy and what a brilliant week we had. We said our goodbyes to the people at the hostel, they had been very friendly and looked after us really well. They seemed genuinely sorry to see us leave. We had one final meal at the San Andrea restaurant and after we finished eating our meal the team management made some presentations to Silviano, to Mario (who got one of those Rovers' Barcelona jerseys) and to some of the tournament organisers who came along to say goodbye. We said thanks to Mario and to our coaches Stephen, Shane, Mick and Kenny for all they had done for us and also to Robert for the great photographs he took all through the week. On Sunday the players had a vote to decide who would be the player of the week and after lunch on Monday the result was revealed. James was the winner and he fully deserved the award. It was on to Rome then for the flight home. It was well timed and we had plenty of time to spend shopping after we arrived at the airport. The flight home was a bit rough as we went through a thunder storm coming up through France but it wasn't too bad. We arrived back at Tallaght Stadium just after midnight where our families were waiting to pick us up. It was a great trip overall, I really enjoyed it and I would love to go back there again.

The club would like to express sincere gratitude to Mario Borza from Silvios who was instrumental in arranging the trip and ensured that SRFC Schoolboys were looked after to the highest order. Thanks Mario!

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