More than a soccer club

Trim Town aiming to satisfy the needs of the community

Anybody who passed the home of Trim Town on the Longwood Road during the last weekend in July, will have noticed a flurry of activity taking place at the venue.

They will have noticed an explosion of colour and activity as the club staged an underage soccer tournament - the Tommy Tournament.

The name derives from the fact that the tournament is dedicated to the memory of two young legends of the club – Thomas Winters and Thomas Farrell – who, sadly, passed away all too soon.

The tournament and the sense of the vibrancy the tournament brought that weekend, can be seen as a symbol of a club that is asserting itself once more. A club that is going places.

There are other signs of progress that reinforce that impression. In the past few years Trim Town FC have carried out a major refurbishment of home ground.

They have constructed a new clubhouse, dressing rooms, toilets and even a new gym, making them one of the very few soccer clubs in its the north east with such a facility. They also brought in Ce-marked, safety goalposts as required.

The chairman is Paddy Kearns who has overseen much of this improvement and who points out that the infrastructural upgrades are part of a vision to turn Trim Town into more than just a football club.

“We have put in TVs, we’ve put projectors, we’ve put in table tennis, we are trying to put in a library for the kids, because not all kids are not as enthusiastic about soccer as others,” he explains.

“We are trying to create more than just a soccer club, more than a sports club. We are trying to create a community hub, a place where people can meet. It’s not all about the football, it’s about the coffee, the chat. It’s about a community, not just a club.”

Kearns points out that Trim Town FC, who operated for years under the shadow of their more high-profile neighbours Trim Celtic, are far from flush with cash but that hasn’t stopped them from making the infrastructural improvements they needed. He clearly fully appreciates the value of teamwork in creating a success story – both on and off the field of play.

He points to the fact that among the reasons why the club is able to carry out the home improvements they have done is partly because of a hard-grafting committee - and the support provided by others.

“I doubt if any of the committee people who are there are doing less than 10 to 20 hours a week, it is just phenomenal.

“We have been able to carry out the work on the ground because we are not paying anything for labour, we are doing it all ourselves, everything is done by begging, borrowing.

"For instance, take the likes of O’Brien Plant Hire, they left us a digger to use for a week, gave us a couple of tons of stones which we were able to spread in the carpark. It’s really a community effort to get the club back to where it should be.”

He also highlights the crucial role played by sponsors. Vital support, he adds, that is provided by local firms as well as two US-based enterprises Kearns brought on board through his own business contacts.

“Fielding a team is one thing but you have to dress them too,” he adds with conviction.

Kearns, who lives in Kildalkey, got involved in Trim Town because his son wanted to play the game. Before too long he was chairman, implementing a vision.

He pays tribute to the dedication of club stalwarts such as ex-chairman Paul Mulligan and Graham Byrne. “The two guys did amazing work in keeping the club going particularly during Covid,” he adds without hesitation.

He also says that one of the pivotal club appointments in more recent years was that of highly qualified coach Keith Peppard who took over as Director of Football.

Peppard, in turn, has put a big emphasis into developing the club’s underage structure – and clearly a lot of good work is taking place in that regard.

Recently one of the club’s talented young players, John Gaughran, was signed by Drogheda United. The club’s u-14s are also pushing for a Div 1 crown under Keith Peppard.

Peppard was also a driving force behind the setting up of the Tommy Tournament which incorporated 90, 20-minute matches and which attracted clubs from all over Meath as well as some from Dublin.

The Tommy ournament was a massive project for Trim Town especially as the club has only one pitch which had to be augmented by the hiring of another playing area in the town.

Trim Town also have a senior team that play out of the NEFL Div 2 and are managed by Shaun Doyle, a well-known figure in soccer circles in the north east. He is assisted by Mick Craig, another great llocal soccer man.

Not that running a club like Trim Town is easy. Challenges abound. Kearns points to the growing amount of paperwork that is part of it all.

“We have to make sure people involved have Garda clearance, anti-bullying and so on. It’s not like it used to be, it’s all paperwork and people need to be very computer literate. I can understand why these measures are there, but it’s a big demand too.”

In recent years Trim Town were the victims of vandalism with damage caused to a perimeter fence part of the calling card left by those responsible. Recently too Trim Town had to dispense with its second team because of a lack of numbers.

There are no shortage of obstacles and challenges to overcome but the people behind Trim Town FC remain undaunted. They are pushing on relentlessly.