WATCH: County Londonderry Junior manager Robert Douglas shares how squad fill down time at SuperCupNI
It is fair to say that the SuperCupNI provides a week full of entertainment on the pitch – but what do the players and staff do away from the action?
We asked the question to County Londonderry manager Robert Douglas after his side secured a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Junior section of the tournament.
Londonderry took the lead through Conleith O’Neill’s finish but Spurs replied twice after the break as Gerald Qirjazi and Michael Milburn found the back of the net.
Just when it looked like Douglas’ boys would have nothing to show for their efforts, Caoimhin McFeely headed in at the back post to give them a share of the spoils in Bushmills.
Whilst the majority of the focus is what happens on the pitch, we asked Douglas what those involved do off the pitch.
He responded: “We watched the Premier section have a good win against Co Antrim on Monday night, which is great as they like to show off the tracksuit.
"Every night they are asking if they can go to a game.
"Down time on Tuesday night was a pool session, bit of recovery, bit of a foam roll session and then a FIFA tournament between the boys and the coaches.
"A lot of the coaches got beat but the boys are loving it.
"You go around the hotel and there’s group of three or four boys sitting around and they are talking about different things.
"It’s nice for them to sit down and talk about games from last season when they were competing against each other.
"The coaches try to come up with other things to keep them active...there’s different wee activities like a reaction game where the players try and see things dropping.”
The SuperCupNI tournament runs from the opening parade on Sunday until the finals on Friday – but Douglas remarked how there is months of preparation heading into the event.
“I think our trial process started at the end of April or start of May,” he reflected.
"I think we had 167 young boys who were dreaming of getting into the last 18.
"Unfortunately, not everyone can make it and you have to find players who fit our style.
“I think we have the best 18 players in the county.”