Ireland still relying on British academies to produce key players

Paul Fennessy

BEFORE LAST night, it was almost six years to the day since Ireland earned back-to-back victories in competitive matches.

Against a poor Bulgaria team, Heimir Hallgrímsson emulated Mick McCarthy, who oversaw respective 1-0 victories over Gibraltar and Georgia in the March 2019 international window.

But as nice and unusual as the past few days will feel for fans, they should not distract from the deep-seated problems in Irish football.

The 10th anniversary of a moment that changed Irish football irrevocably is also on the horizon.

Brexit meant that Irish youngsters could no longer travel to the UK until they turned 18, having been able to move into the academy of clubs at 16 in the past.

The prevailing wisdom as a result of Brexit was that Irish football could no longer rely on English academies to produce its footballers.

This was true on one level, which is why there has increased pressure in recent times on the Irish government to provide much-needed funding for academy clubs on this island.

Speaking on Off the Ball last week, Eoin Doyle — whose career included stints in both the League of Ireland and various levels of English football — gave a stark example of how far behind Irish youngsters are compared to their English counterparts.

The comments were in response to an in-depth piece in The Athletic published last week that looked at the emergence of several promising Irish youngsters of late and speculated whether a vibe shift was coming.

The former St Pat’s striker put the difference between the two countries down to “contact hours,” suggesting Irish footballers are “not playing enough” at a young age.

Doyle explained: “I’ve a friend that used to coach with the U19s at National League level.

“He went over to work for a category three club [usually a League One or League Two team]. The 18s in England do eight hours pitch, four hours gym alongside education and life skills work per week.

“Back home, at the U19s, they did four and a half hours a week on the pitch, an hour in the gym and no further education or life skills. That’s a difference of 1,560 minutes per month between gym and pitch. Just under 16,000 minutes contact time more per season across gym and pitch. That’s a category three club in England.”

These quotes are one illustration of why Ireland lags so far behind England and many other countries at international level.

Until more funding and resources are provided for Irish academies, the situation is unlikely to change even if the national team do get the odd win against the Bulgarias of this world.

It does not mean that Ireland won’t still occasionally produce highly talented players, but these stars will only emerge sporadically given the limits of the current system.

But it’s also worth assessing the point about Irish football supposedly no longer being reliant on British academies to develop youngsters.

The player generally perceived to have the highest ceiling in the Irish squad, Evan Ferguson, is one exception. He moved over to England at 16, by which time he had already made his debut at Bohemians and reaped the benefits of a top academy at Brighton.

The same can be said for the man who started alongside him in attack, Troy Parrott, who joined Tottenham at 16, while the other starting attacker, Mikey Johnston, was born and grew up in Scotland, coming through the underage system at Celtic.

Perhaps most tellingly, the entire midfield who finished last night’s game — Josh Cullen, Jack Taylor and Finn Azaz all came through the academy system in England at West Ham, Chelsea and West Brom respectively.

In the case of Cullen and Azaz, it is not unreasonable to suspect that if they stay injury-free, that duo are good enough to form two-thirds of the Irish midfield for many years to come.

And if Declan Rice and Jack Grealish had chosen to stick with Ireland and not switch allegiance, the English academy influence in Ireland’s midfield would be even greater.

That is to denigrate individual players like Cullen and Azaz or suggest they should not be in the team — on the contrary, they are the best available players and have proven as much with their performances in a green jersey.

But the sheer reliance on second or third-generation players is another reminder of the ineptitude of the Irish system at present.

For years, it has been widely agreed that Ireland’s best players have been defenders and goalkeepers.

It is in these positions where contact hours are arguably less essential.

Yet it is a long time since Ireland produced an elite central midfielder or winger — Roy Keane and Damien Duff are probably the most recent examples to fall into that category. And it’s over a quarter of a century since both these footballers came through the Irish system.

Midfield is the most important position on the pitch and the one where Ireland have looked the most impoverished for some time.

And the positions where technical ability is of utmost significance tend to also be the areas where contact hours matter most.

So the Boys in Green will continue to struggle against the top sides until this matter is properly tackled and greater funding is made available.