CONOR O’MALLEY’S FIRST experience in the Ireland set-up has taken priority over his academic studies this week.
The 23-year-old inclusion in Martin O’Neill’s latest squad came as a bit of a surprise when he was named as one of three goalkeepers along with Colin Doyle and Shane Supple due to injuries to the regular stoppers.
For the Peterborough United man, however, the training camp for next week’s friendly matches against France and the US clashed with his CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exams.
“The scholarship programme at St Pat’s allowed me to study and play professional football at the same time so I got a degree in Maths from Maynooth,” O’Malley explained today. “It’s nice to have it there and know that once I finish playing football, I’ll be able to go and get a good job.
“I’m doing my CFA exams at the moment to be a financial analyst. It was to be on 23 June, so this has ruined that exam for me this year but I might sit it next year.”
You can make good money at it but it’s just nice to have that security there when you finish,” the Mayo native adds. “If anything happens to finish your career suddenly there’s something there that you can do and still have a decent lifestyle.
“I didn’t enjoy school but I liked some subjects and I liked maths, physics, those sorts of subjects, so I didn’t mind studying for them. I went to college and they had options there so I did maths and football. I wanted to see where football would go then so I took a year out after college just to concentrate on that and ended up exactly a year after finishing college signing for Peterborough so it worked out well.
“If I’d had the offer when I was in college I might have made a rash decision and left so I’m happy I didn’t, that I got the opportunity to finish my degree and go over at the right time.”
O’Malley joined League One outfit Peterborough from St Patrick’s Athletic last August and made 14 appearances in all competitions during his first season in England football.
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He’s right, grab the football opportunity while it’s there, plenty of time for CFA later down the road.
A strong Pro 8 style league of Ireland with top class academies that nurtures the type of players we want which will suit a style of play we aspire. This alongside an international set up that picks the best talent from home and adds it to players from abroad to suit the way we want to play
Its time to phase out our ridiculous complete reliance on foreign leagues which is a total short sighted disaster, who cares what some foreign scout does or does think who has no interest in Ireland.
@Supes Kz: indeed! Support networks, friends and family are a necessity in nurturing talent. Too many times lads have moved abroad and become disenfranchised with football and their life when their form takes a dip under the extreme pressure of trying to make it. If the fai actually invested and stopped lining their pockets and getting kissed with fans the odd time we get to a tournament, then we’d see progress and something to be positive about. Young lads should be encouraged to stay and try and make it if theyre good enough once they’re mature enough for more independent living.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Two good comments there, but do we honestly think the FAI are going to make any kind of effort to enhance a league that they don’t even find now? Football is this country has huge potential but not enough action is taken at administrative levels for anything to change.