Under 14 Boys Trip to Benfica 2019

Clonee United’s Under 14 Premier boys’ side traveled to Benfica on Thursday morning for a 4 day training camp. In 2015, the Lisbon based team won the award for the world’s best academy and it’s no wonder when you get to see the setup and level of professionalism involved.

The lads were picked up by the incredibly luxurious Benfica team bus from the airport and were transported around in it for the four days.

In total the boys had four training sessions, training sessions of the highest standards and were afforded the luxury of having a club liaison, three coaches and our own physio throughout the trip. They ate in the Benfica player restaurant, got their kit washed between training sessions by the club and have also completed a stadium tour and museum tour at the impressive home ground.

On Saturday morning, the boys played and beat a local Portuguese side 6-0 with some incredible football being played and hit the bar twice as well as the post. Dare scored a hat-trick, Ross scored 2 with Ceilim getting the sixth. The ball rarely left the playing surface for the 70 minutes. The locals were impressed with the standard!

To top it all off the 16 Clonee United players attended the Benfica senior match in the Estadio da Luz stadium on Saturday evening and were back on the training ground again in the morning. It’s been an unbelievable experience where the lads literally lived like professional players for the week. We were hugely impressed with the Benfica staff and how they treated us. The pictures say it all……