Success now ‘scarily low’ on broken English pathway

Ger Mulvihill Sending promising Irish youngsters across the Irish Sea to pursue a career in professional football on academy contracts is ‘just not working’, with success rates ‘scarily low’, insists Shelbourne defender Luke Byrne.

Sending promising Irish youngsters across the Irish Sea to pursue a career in professional football on academy contracts is ‘just not working’, with success rates ‘scarily low’, insists Shelbourne defender Luke Byrne.

“I think 16 is too young to send a kid to a part of Britain they have been to once on trial and have no support,” Byrne adds. “Taking a kid out of school and putting him on a two-year scholarship is just not working.