Maree/Oranmore U14 trip to Manchester 20/03/09 - 22/03/09
[Photographs of the trip are here]
Friday 20th March ’09 saw the U14's setting off for their trip to Manchester. We were meeting at the Astroturf in Oranmore at 3 o'clock where there was great excitement. We had bought tracksuits for the weekend and all the lads wore them and looked very smart. We set off at 3:45pm to Shannon for our flight to Manchester. The atmosphere on the bus was electric. We made it to Shannon in plenty of time for checking in. We were first in the queue and only had to wait about fifteen minutes before the check in opened. The lads did not want to wait all they wanted to do was go and eat. That seemed to be the theme for the weekend – eat as much as they could. The flight took off on time and we arrived in Manchester at 8:20pm. We were met by coach driver John Bell who was our driver for the weekend. We loaded up and headed for the hotel. The hotel was grand - not a five star but it did the job. After we checked in and got changed we met down in the lobby and guess what the lads wanted to do? You got it - they wanted to get something to eat! We loaded up and headed for the Trafford Centre and went to the pictures. We went to see "The International". It was the only time the lads were quiet for the whole weekend as the film was rubbish! After the film finished at 12:15am we headed back to the hotel for what the adults hoped would be a good nights sleep – how wrong we were – between the jigs and the reels it was about 4am when the lads settled down for the night. At least 3 of the 4 adults were fast asleep for most of the fun – so while Paul Smith, Mark Tully and Greg Cawley were well able for the next days’ activities Enda Cox who had spent a while on the hotel corridor trying to get a bit of quietness from the lads during the night was not on top form on Saturday.
On Saturday we had planned to head back to the Trafford Centre for the morning to let the lads do some shopping. We were having breakfast at 8:30 Saturday morning so we had to wake the lads at 8am. It was like waking the dead! You should have seen the heads on some of them. Finally, they arrived down for breakfast at 9 and they were all delighted to see it was a buffet – eat as much as you can! The amount of food those lads can eat is something else. After breakfast we loaded up on the bus and headed for the Trafford Centre. The four adults split up and took a group of lads with them. We regrouped at twelve and where did the lads want go then? - straight for the food hall! After we finished in the Trafford Centre we got the bus to the JJB Soccer Dome where we played indoor soccer for an hour. That finished at 3 and then we had a buffet AGAIN. We headed back to the hotel to watch the Wales v Ireland game. There was great excitement in the hotel after Ireland won. We all got ready to go out but first, we had to have dinner. We then headed for Daytona Go-Karting, which was booked for 8:30-10pm. The lads said that was the best part of the trip. Some parents’ better watch out as the lads took to it like ducks to water. When that finished we headed back to the hotel. The lads went up to the rooms while the adults played a few games of pool. (Just a bit of advice: never play pool with Paul Smith or Greg Cawley as they make up their own rules for pool when it suits them). On the second night all the adults got a good nights’ sleep but as you would expect the lads did not as most of them stayed up into the wee hours.
Trying to wake them on Sunday morning was worse than Saturday morning. We had assigned rooms to them all but when we went to wake them they had all moved. Finally, they arrived for breakfast and ate a weeks worth of breakfast in one sitting! We checked out and headed to the next part of the trip. Enda (a Liverpool fan) was dreading this for weeks. We arrived at Old Trafford for the tour of the stadium. Enda did the tour but said his feet were burning and that he was getting a rash. Enda asked the tour guide a question “WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE BEATEN 4-1 BY A FABULOUS LIVERPOOL TEAM THE WEEK BEFORE?” He gave Enda an awful look and carried on with the tour. When they finished the tour all Endas aliments disappeared. Afterwards we headed back to the Trafford Centre for an unscheduled visit as the lads wanted to go back for an hour shopping. We stayed a bit longer than planned cause as we were leaving they were all hungry AGAIN so we had to get something to eat. We arrived at Man City for the Man City v Sunderland match. It turned out to be an awful game with City winning one nil. There was no atmosphere at the City end at all! The highlight of the match was seeing our club name in the programme welcoming us to the game. After the game we headed to City's shop where some of the lads bought City jerseys. Then it was off to the airport for the trip back to Shannon. We finally arrived back in Oranmore at 11:30pm. Thankfully only one boy was ill on the trip and that was on the way home – probably from overeating!!!! Enda, Paul, Mark and Greg were delighted that the weekend went so well and despite everyone being tired on Monday it was decided by the lads and the adults that it really was a great weekend.
ROLL ON THE NEXT TRIP!!!!!
