Sligo Rovers’ Niall Morahan following the perfect pathway

Niall Morahan of Sligo Rovers. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Amid the squabbling over domestic youth development, Sligo Rovers’ Niall Morahan is an exemplar of everything the FAI aspires towards.

The Leitrim village native was nurtured by Carrick Town, moved to another schoolboy club, Strandhill Celtic, before joining the League of Ireland outfit at 15.

Six years later and he’s surpassed a century of first-team appearances, was part of Ireland’s U19 squad at the Euro finals in 2019, and is a guaranteed starter for this evening’s Europa Conference League first leg in Iceland against FH Hafnarfjordur.

To confirm his status as a model case, Morahan is thriving in a professional football environment in tandem with a business course. He was the first recipient of the club’s scholarship scheme brokered with IT Sligo.

“Growing up, the big plan is getting to an English Premier League club by 16 but that might not always be the case,” explained the 21-year-old.

“I was one of six Academy graduates starting for the Sligo side last week.

“The first international call-up I got was for the U19s, playing in the Euro qualifiers alongside the likes of Jason Knight and Luca Connell.

“I went to the finals in Armenia too, part of the same squad with Lee O’Connor and Andrew Omobamidele who’ve since been promoted to the senior panel. I didn’t notice a massive difference when training with those lads. It wasn’t as if I was a million miles off the pace. I have to keep working away, hopefully get a shout with the U21s and push on to the senior team.”

European club exposure will help his cause too. Dundalk squeezed past FH in 2016 but the Icelanders are on a wretched run of six defeats and two draws. Boss Logi Ólafsson saw his sidekick, former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, quit at Christmas. Kick off is 7pm, with a link to buy a stream available via Sligo’s twitter feed.