The Football Association of Ireland plans to reroute money previously used in the disbanded Emerging Talent Programme (ETP) to increase coaching time for the best 14-to-18-year-olds in the country.
The ETP was considered outdated by the association as they claim the most promising teenagers are now scouted and signed by League of Ireland academies. However, with the 24 academies having only 10 full-time staff, the new approach intends to treble the training hours of boys and girls with the greatest potential to make it as professionals.
Sessions will be rolled out at the FAI’s headquarters in Abbotstown from March 2025. Exact details remain unclear, but the time spent by young footballers at their clubs will not be affected as gaps in the calendar will be used to provide access to senior Irish coaches, including Heimir Hallgrímsson, John O’Shea, Eileen Gleeson and Emma Byrne.
Shane Robinson, the FAI assistant director of football, is leading the project which will be funded by most of the €700,000 spent annually on the ETP. The remaining money will go to grassroots, under the Football Pathways Plan being led by the FAI’s chief football officer Marc Canham.
Currently, the average coaching contact time for under-17 boys at League of Ireland clubs is 260 minutes per week. In contrast, a category three English academy like Rochdale or Accrington Stanley spends up to 720 minutes on youth development.
The hope is to bridge this gap with bespoke sessions as, following Brexit, Irish players under 18 can no longer take the traditional route into UK clubs.
While an outstanding talent like Mason Melia (17) can be developed with the St Patrick’s Athletic first team, the majority of teenagers are not physically ready to compete with adults. The FAI plan to give their coaches earlier access to the next Melia while also ensuring less athletically developed players do not slip through the cracks.
This could be particularly beneficial for girls after the weekly session for high potential players, brought in by former Ireland manager Colin Bell and continued by Vera Pauw, was shelved under Gleeson. Training will take place in Abbotstown, which is seen as an underused resource outside of international squad gatherings.
The hope is also to expand the geographic reach of talent as the recent Ireland under-15 boys squad only included two players from non-Dublin clubs.
The League of Ireland clubs are due to receive a breakdown of the logistics around these gatherings from Canham and Robinson, who previously ran the Shamrock Rovers academy.
