*Jamie Roche. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
FINISHING their last campaign on a high with a dramatic Cup final win, Avenue Utd’s hopes of carrying some bit of momentum forward have been thwarted by a busy exit door but it hasn’t diluted their sense of ambition.
Premier Division champions on three occasions in the past five seasons, Avenue Utd kick off their campaign with an almost unrecongisable squad.
Nnabuike Nneji and Ronan Kerin arguably their two best players over the last two seasons are climbing the ranks and have joined Salthill Devon as they enter the new third tier of the League of Ireland.
Both the Casey and O’Malley families are among the most distinguished in the history of the club but Dylan Casey and Paddy O’Malley have crossed the border to Limerick, signing for Aisling Annacotty and Pike Rovers respectively.
Factor in the departure of Elias Kunz, Avenue’s standout man in 2022 and 2023, the exit of Seán O’Callaghan who scored the all-important goal to win the league in 2025 and Conor Mullen’s knee injury which will keep him sidelined till the New Year then use of the word transition or new-look is certainly not an understatement.
Adrian Walsh enters his second season as Avenue Utd manager. He acknowledged that the revolving door at Roslevan has been flowing. “Our squad is younger again this season, I could end up fielding an U14 team. During the Hugh Kelly Cup against Moher Celtic, Newmarket Celtic and Ennis Dons, we’ve mainly had an U20 team with a sprinkling of older lads. It’s a complete turnaround in personnel, the team that David Russell had is now gone, it was halfway gone last season and now it is fully gone. I am bitterly disappointed about the lads that have transferred to other clubs that we could be playing in Munster or FAI Junior Cup competitions but I am delighted that Ronan and Nna have made the step up to the third tier of the League of Ireland”.
Work remains ongoing behind the scenes for Avenue Utd to try sign a big name over the next week or so. New additions to the squad include Johnson Mununkum and William Bello who will both have had three different clubs in a year following their moves from Fair Green to Bridge Utd. Kevin O’Connor formerly of Hermitage has returned from Australia and will line out in the heartr of defence with Michael Akujobi leaving Ennis Dons to join Avenue. Fiachra Roche has left the Avenue management to concentrate on playing and will be an option in midfield.
Their cause will be strengthened in the coming weeks with the return of Conor Finnucane, Jack Joyce and Eoghan Thynne when their focus switches from gaelic football to soccer.
Though silverware was obtained in the Clare Cup with a dramatic extra time win over Newmarket Celtic and the campaign started by claiming the Hugh Kelly Cup, Walla admitted he was disappointed the club was unable to defend the league title. “We won the League Cup and the Cup so that is some element of success but we lost the league so I would have been disappointed. The way we exited the Munster and FAI Junior Cups together with losing the league was disappointing for us, it was poor if we’re honest but a lot of our lads that talked the talk are gone now so it will be an interesting season”.
This disappointment has reignited a focus on internal competitions for Avenue Utd, the Ennis native said. “Our focus has to be on domestic matter, we will keep our focus on the domestic competitions and aim to be competitive in Munster and the FAI. We want to retain the trophies we won last season and go for the league, that has to be our aim. Avenue is about trophies and not about messing around, the show goes on, it doesn’t matter who is there”.
There was “bitter disappointment” for Walla to see Dylan Casey and Paddy O’Malley leave the club when there is potential that they could face off with the club in either the Munster Junior or FAI Junior Cups. “We’ve lost the spine of the team, Nna was centre mid, Gary O’Connell was our right back with either Mully, Dylan and Seán O’Callaghan our centre halves and then our striker Ronan Kerin. If I took Eoin Hayes, Jack Kelly and Harvey Cullinan out of the Newmarket team where would they be. There has been no drama though, I wish the boys in Salthill well, I spoke to them and went to their first game, we’re not going to stand in anyone’s way of once they go to a higher level”.
Avenue Utd Factfile:
Management: Adrian Walsh (manager), Gary Walsh, Stuart Hadden,
Captain: Cullen McCabe
Vice Captan: Jamie Roche
Key Player: Jack Ryan
One to watch: Ryan Mahony
Fresh blood: George Quinn, Darlington Akhigbe Napoleon, Leo Johnson, Emmauuel Jukib, Johnson Mununkum, William Bello, Michael Akujobi, James Tierney, Kevin O’Connor, Eoghan Fox
Departures Gate: Dylan Casey (transferred to Aisling Annacotty), Paddy O’Malley (rejoined Pike Rovers), Ronan Kerin (signed for Salthill Devon), Nnabuike Nneji (signed for Salthill Devon), TJ Forde (returned to Galway), Elias Kunz, Seán O’Callaghan.
Treatment table: Conor Mullen (knee), Gary O’Connell (ankle), Conor Hehir (foot), Eoghan Thynne,
Last season’s run: Won the Clare Cup and the Hugh Kelly Cup, finished third in the Premier Division.
