Rovers' Futsal team celebrate in Tallaght

Rovers fans will get a chance to celebrate the achievements of one of the club’s less-heralded sides at Friday’s final home match when the Hoops’ futsal team is presented to the Tallaght Stadium crowd.

This Rovers side includes current A Championship squad member Ian Byrne and former Hoops first team player Brendan Dawson as well as a mix of Brazilian and Irish players. Dawson had a massive say in the final with a stunning hat-trick to help clinch victory in a pulsating game that saw Rovers lead 4-0 at half-time then Bray peg the game back to 4-3. Philip McDonagh (two), Marwan Azimi, Leonardo Da Sousa were the other Rovers scorers and Hoops skipper Anderson Nunes got his hands on the trophy.

Futsal is the official FIFA-approved version of 5-a-side football and is professional in countries such as Brazil, Spain, Italy, Russia and Portugal. This version of football has continued to grow since it was introduced to Ireland in 1999 and Shamrock Rovers has been involved since day one. A pilot league run in conjunction with the Leinster Senior League in 2000 included the Rovers intermediate team coached by Kevin Carroll and Mitch Whitty.

The FAI introduced a national under-21 futsal league tournament in 2007 and the Hoops were champions. Dave Campbell’s side became Ireland’s first European representatives when they played in the UEFA Futsal Cup that year. Stephen Finn coaches the current squad and it is anticipated that the Emerald Futsal League will grow next year to include Munster and Connacht. Sporting Fingal and St Patrick’s Athletic were also represented in the league that Rovers competed in this year.

“The achievement of the squad was tremendous especially as injuries cost us the use of Alvin Lawlor and Vinicius Terso for a good part of the season,” said Finn. “Futsal is a tremendous game that allows players develop their dribbling, passing, shooting and composure. I think every young player should play it rather than running around in the muck and rain every winter. “Some of the Rovers youngest teams have sampled futsal through the DDSL’s winter futsal programme but that lasts for five weeks and it would be great if they could play in proper futsal leagues. “There are also opportunities for guys to win senior international caps in futsal, like Ian Byrne and John Somers did from our squad, and that is a rare enough opportunity for any footballer.”

SHAMROCK ROVERS FUTSAL SQUAD 2009 – John Somers, Ian Byrne, Philip McDonagh, Anderson Nunes, Brendan Dawson, Leonardo Da Sousa, Alvin Lawlor, Vinicius Terso, Hiago Frietas, Richard Maher, Marwan Azimi, Renaldo Grube.