thats true mick but they would have stood out a mile as in they were exceptional in ireland- Doyle was outstanding in 2004, long didnt play much LOI at all with cork, Coleman played very little LOI- these lads were exceptional in the youth system here , Wes was always unreal, that deportivo game in 04 for example- stevens played a fair bit of LOI before he went over allright- maclean was decent too for a bit…
either way - in irish terms - they are all exceptional - but then in the bigger fishbowl they look average at that level( and there athleticism would be a basic pre req for the job)- its all relative really
damien delaany is a great example really - he gave a smashing interview last sunday on OTB, talking about Gerry Taggart and Matt ELliot at Leicster, he would have done really well in his early days at cork and derek mountfield just hooked him up with peter taylor- delaney was aknown always as an exceptionally fit man- he was a standout too
ah look there was more than just that tbh
no point in rehashing bratislava again but this was a fella with very low self confidence who would have been the butt of that dressing rooms jokes in that campaign- that combined with a pretty sad family background and some questionable advice saw him do so pretty emabarassing things
Mark Hughes kept him on the straight and narrow in fairness - when mancini came in that time to maine road in 2009 in november it started to go downhill then for ireland
he had has best season after bratislava, id say hughes probably told him to be done with dopes like steven hunt and pack it in tbh
Irish players in the main are technically brutal with few rare exceptions. They haven’t the courage to go demand the football out of their comfort zone and play properly.
The grass roots coaching is fucking brutal. Generally teams put their best player up front underage and get the other lads to kick it to him as quick as possible, to win meaningless underage games, instead of developing ability.
The academy system that has been introduced is improving that to be fair. Lot of lads getting picked up now and getting decent coaching. When I was playing underage you had to be in Dublin or Cork or you didn’t exist
In Citys and big clubs. I took a 16s team locally here (rural) a few years ago. None of them knew how to turn on the ball. They had to stop it, then turn. None of them knew how to show a man outside.
It was a major eye opener. Half of them couldn’t play in a position.
Midleton run an academy here, they’re a big club, but it’s just a money racket. They’ve 60 under 8s on a 3/4 sized astro pitch all running all over the fucking place. No good to anyone
English players aren’t much better technically than Irish lads. There are very few of them comfortable taking the ball and playing with it under pressure
