Omagh quintet earn NI trials

FIVE members of Omagh Futsal Club have been selected by Northern Ireland national team boss Jonathan Michael to trial for a place in his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Zach Fearson, Alex Nesbitt and McMenemy brothers Lee and Ryan are all under 20-years-old, while David Fulton is a relative veteran at 32 and he is particularly delighted to have received the opportunity.

“It’s unbelievable and the fact that we’re even mentioning the inernational scenario is unreal,” beamed the Fivemiletown United skipper.

“I’m going to give this as much as I can because it would be the best thing I’ve ever done, without a doubt. To put on that Northern Ireland shirt, to get that recognition, not that you crave the recognition but it’s nice to get it. You ply your whole career to impress, to do the best you can, so if you got that recognition of an international call-up it would be absolutely phenomenal.”

While delighted to have received the opportunity at this relatively late stage in his football career, his selection for an international futsal trial is equally surprising given how short a time he’s been playing the indoor sport.

“I’ll be honest, I only started futsal as kind of a thing during the summer after Covid,” explained the former Beragh Swifts and Dergview player, who believes the Omagh club, which was founded by David Alonso and Martin Cassidy, is heading in the right direction for success.

He continued: “I went down and had a good old time with David [Alonso, head coach] and Martin [Cassidy, club chairman] – you couldn’t meet two nicer guys – and they were just texting me afterwards saying they hadn’t seen anyone fitter.

“And there are guys I would have played with before, like Mickey Browne and there’s a good group of young ones. I have really enjoyed playing with the young ones because you get to bring them along and they need that steadying influence, which I have accepted that I am now after much deliberation over the last few years.

“I have now accepted I am that old but when there are boys paying who are nearly half your age you soon realise maybe I am the experienced one here!,” he laughed.

The role of experienced leader is one the current Omagh squad needs, given its reliance on youth, as seen by the ages of his team-mates who have also been offered the chance to trial for Northern Ireland.

And Fulton believes the Tyrone outfit have what it takes to compete at the top table of the sport in the country.

“Once we got to playing against boys who are the best in the league you began to think ‘hold on, we’re starting to compete, we have a bit of a chance here’,” he explained.

“We’ve really started bonding as a team and that first result against Afrimeripean really galvanised the boys and we’ve taken it on from there. There’s not much between us and the best in the league.”

The Omagh quintet will find out if their trials were successful at the end of this month.