Talented young Offaly player's promise shown with soccer award

THE promise and potential of a gifted young Offaly soccer player has been shown with her selection for an award by a highly rated academy.

Leah Stack, from Killeigh and a secondary school student in Tullamore, has been announced as an award winner in a competition focused on all round ability and all facets of the game.

She has been named as the girls winner of the Premier League Experience 2.0, a competition ran by Velocity 186, a high performance soccer academy which tries to improve players and bring them to the next level.

Leah was selected for her application of:

* Exceptional technical ability on both feet.

* Tactical play

* Speed work

* Consistent quality through the day.

She was selected ahead of a group of other girls after an intensive series of challenges.

Velocity aims to identify and elevate young soccer talent through coaching, development programmes and a focus on the player.

Their aim is “to enhance technical ability, game intelligence, and physical performance, ensuring players reach their highest potential”.

The head coach is Phil Reilly, a Loughrea native who got his first professional contract with Manchester City before playing with Stockport County in League 1. He returned home to play League of Ireland with Galway United and Athlone Town before going to Australia and playing for six seasons in the National Premier League in Sydney.

He was the head coach with Athlone Town senior womens' team when they were league and cup runners up in 2022.

A former player with Killeigh Schoolboys and Girls Soccer Club, Leah has followed a path travelled by many from Offaly by going to Athlone Town. She is currently playing with Athlone Town U17s and 19s and has attended Irish U16 sessions.

A number of players from Offaly are currently on the Athlone Town squad who are challenging strongly for the League of Ireland Premier Division and have set the club alight with their bid to qualify for the European Champions League.

Leah is one of four daughters of Niall and Jenna Stack. Niall is very well known in Offaly GAA circles. He was the manager of Tullamore senior footballers as they embarked on a terrific run in recent years, leading them to three Senior Football Championship titles and banishing two major hoodoos in 2024 as they retained the title for the first time since 1926 and won their first Leinster club game since 1977. A prominent player with Tullamore in the 1990s and 2000s, Niall was recently appointed as a sports psychologist with Westmeath senior hurlers, having obtained qualifications in that whole area several years ago and working with a number of individuals and teams.

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He stepped down from Tullamore senior footballers at the end of the 2024 season and following and helping the sporting and other interests and development of his daughters was a factor in this decision.