A MOST brilliant match at Dalymount

LOCAL youths and Gardai teamed up for a rather unusual match at Dalymount Park last week.

The game organised by the MOST project and the Bohemian Foundation was to cement links between Gardai from the Bridewell Garda Station and young people involved with the MOST Garda Youth Diversion Project.

MOST project youth worker, Tom Adams, said that the now annual match has proven to be a winner for everyone involved.

“Yeah it’s been a big success,” Adams told Northside People.

“The players have been going along to training sessions now for a couple of weeks and the idea was that you get as many Gardai involved as possible, and as many of the kids as possible to come along to the training sessions so that they can mix and interact with each other.

“The training sessions allow for a familiarity to build between the young people and the Gardai.

“I think sometimes they may know each other already, and I think their associations may not always be the most positive, so the training sessions and the game gives them a chance to see each other in a different light, which is great. I think everyone involved was excited to play at Dalymount.”

 Bohemians Foundation President, Thomas Hynes, echoed Adams’ comments that the event was a great success and said a lot of the players involved were actually Bohemians fans.

“All we could offer was the use of Dalymount in the first year, but since then we have speeches being made and presentations – it’s turned into a really big event,” Hynes told Northside People.

“[The kids] They’re all Bohs fans you see. All the guys usually are up in the far end on match day, the A section, so the thought of playing in Dalymount was a great carrot for them.

“It’s a super opportunity for the kids and a chance for them to move their life forward.”

The MOST project is a local community service that works with young people from the north-west inner city, some of whom are at risk of drifting into anti-social behaviour or criminality.

MOST aims to help young people move away from behaving in a way that might get them or their friends into trouble with the law.

If you would like to help get involved with the MOST project you can do so by visiting www.bradog.com/services/most.