Cork City’s success another showcase for the League of Ireland
Aaron Drinan’s 47th-minute penalty proved the decisive score as Bermingham’s side defeated HJK Helsinki 1-0 in their second leg tie to secure a glamour second round tie against AS Roma.
Bermingham was delighted to showcase domestic football in such a positive light.
He said: “For a club from Ireland to be able to put it up to a professional set-up like HJK Helsinki, it’s just shown how far Irish football has come, and with our own senior team and Dundalk doing so well it’s showing how football here is constantly pushing on. We want to showcase how good football is in Cork, and the standard in Ireland. This result really shows the level that we can achieve.
“There’s great work being done in the Cork Schoolboys League with the clubs, the emerging talent programmes the FAI are running, the U17 and U19 leagues have been a huge success and there is now a clear pathway from a very young age.
“UCD are playing Galway in the league final this year and hopefully one of those teams will be able to take part in this excellent competition, and it’s showing young players that they will get opportunities to take part in games at the highest level with their local clubs.”
And he insists young talent don’t need to take the route towards English football to grow and develop their skills.
“Look at the European Championships this summer where we had eight former League of Ireland players in the squad.
“That just shows there’s now a number of pathways where you can stay and get your education before making the decision to go overseas.
“You’ve seen with the likes of Alan Browne and Brian Lenihan here who have come through the youth squads, gotten a chance at senior level and have then pushed on.”
City now meet the Italian giants in the second round of the Domestic Champions section, with the winner advancing through to the play-off round where they’ll face the runners-up in one of the Champions League group stage sections, drawn from the youth sides of the 32 participants in this year’s competition.
Those two games are set to take place on the 2nd and 23rd November, with the City expected to travel to the Italian capital for the first leg.
It will be no easy task however, as Roma hammered APOEL Nicosia 9-1 in their first-round tie, and contain a squad packed full of underage internationals.
Meanwhile the Republic of Ireland U17 side finished their Uefa U17 Championship Qualifying Round group with a 1-0 win over Greece in Andorra yesterday. The result means Colin O’Brien’s side finish the section with a 100% record following wins this week against Andorra, Kazakhstan and Greece. The Boys in Green will now compete in the Elite Phase in spring 2017 with a place at the finals tournament in Croatia next May at stake. Aaron Connolly was the goalscorer against the Greeks.
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