Mount Pleasant on target to reach top flight in two years

Manager of the Mount Pleasant Football Academy David Galloway is beaming with pride as the St Ann-based football club is on track to meet its target of advancing the nation's top-flight league in two years.

Mount Pleasant senior men's team qualified for the final of the Eastern Confederation final after beating Priory Academy 2-0 in the semi-final.

Galloway said he promised the owner of the club, Peter Gould, that he could advance to the Red Stripe Premier League in two years before the club started two years ago.

"We said that we want to make it to the Premier League in two years, and we are on par to doing that, "Galloway said.

Galloway wants to play in the nation's top flight in order to achieve the owner's main objective of developing the football talent of young boys in Mount Pleasant.

"Peter Gould is from England and lives in the community. He is a person who loves football and he believes in helping young people, so his thought was that if he started a football academy, it would have been the perfect thing to get the youngsters off the street and into the school," Galloway said.

"After he explained to me exactly what he wanted, I assembled a team to get the academy to where it is now."

The academy boasts football programmes at four levels: the Under-13, Under-15, Under-21, and a senior team.

It announced its seriousness when it won the all-island Under-13 competition earlier this year.

The senior team will take on Albion Mountain in the Eastern Confederation final on Sunday at Drax Hall.