Many clubs in our situation rely on experienced players and while we have quite a few in that category, we also have a crop of youngsters which are surely among the best in non-league football.
The Cynon Valley has been a particularly rich source of talent for our Academy with two strikers from that
area making a big impact in the first team. SAM O’SULLIVAN, nine months younger than his partner in goals John Phillips, will not celebrate his 18th birthday until next July.
Sam’s journey from Abercynon involves a round trip of over 50 miles every day to school at the Hartridge Academy, but the travelling does not seem to affect either his studies or his football.
He said: “At first I used to have a lift with my dad to get a taxi to Ystrad Mynach where we boarded a minibus to travel to Newport, so it was car, taxi, minibus each day. I was up at 6.30 and would often have a two or three mile walk home in the evening. Now John has a car so it is not so bad.
“But I had A, B and C grades in my AS Levels in Geography, PE and History so I haven’t done too badly.”
Sam has been playing football since he was a six year-old when he started playing 11 a-side games with boys aged nine for Penrhiwceiber Rangers, and he represented the Cynon
Valley at all age levels up to under-16. Cardiff City took an interest and at the age of 15 he signed a two-year schoolboy contract for the Bluebirds, though his association with them did not work out to his satisfaction.
Sam explained: “I was there for a year and a half but I never really enjoyed it. I was scoring goals playing in midfield or in an attacking role but they moved me up an age group and didn’t really give me a chance. I came on as a substitute in one game when we were losing 5-4 and they put me at right-back though I had never played in defence.
“I could have gone to other clubs for trials – Swansea City and Leeds United were both interested – but I had chosen Cardiff so it was disappointing.”
Sam has always had plenty of encouragement from home. He still lives with his parents Paul and Helen, and nine year-old brother Tommy in Abercynon, and Paul travels to all our games. In fact Sam has played for Penrhiwceiber’s Welsh League team at the age of 15 as a right winger with 40 something Paul at right-back! And his uncle Nigel O’Sullivan used to play schoolboy football with Peter Nicholas!
Sam, who has known John Phillips since they played under-9 football, also played for Cwmbach alongside Nathan Manley, now our youth team skipper, while John, together with another Academy member Lee Williams, played for nearby Aberaman.
Sam and John may be seen as rivals for a place in our senior squad, and they have similar talents, both being speedy strikers with a keen eye for goal. They are good friends though on and off the pitch.
Sam said: “John has had more first team chances than me but there has never been a problem in terms of jealousy between us.”
Both had disappointments at Cardiff City and when Roger Skyrme extended the invitation for Sam to join the Newport Academy, he wanted to go straight away, though his parents needed convincing!
“I had passed eleven GCSEs at Grade B or above at Cardinal Newman School in Rhydyfelin, and they were afraid the travelling would set me back, but I have proved that I can cope with it.”
Sam has also been to Fulham, meeting their manager Chris Coleman together with Welsh international Mark Pembridge, and he played in an academy game there in November, scoring twice and winning a penalty. He needed physio treatment after the game and on the next couch was Fulham’s Dutch keeper Edwin Van Der Saar!
His biggest moments in the first team for us have been his goals against Afan Lido, Grantham Town and Tillery and he wonders if the future will be here or at university. County fans will hope that a way will be found for him to continue to combine his studies with his football here!