John Fallon: Misplaced priorties costing underage leagues

Liam Kearney feels no shame in getting by with a little help from his friends

Wed, 02 Mar, 2022 - 09:00

In times of scarce resources for his Cork City academy, Liam Kearney feels no shame in getting by with a little help from his friends.

The "Conna Maradona" played alongside many a gifted team-mate during his time at City but Kevin Doyle, who departed for fame and fortune at Reading midway through their 2005 title-winning season, is up there with the finest.

Kearney’s job these days is to unearth the next Doyle or Shane Long, coordinating the suite of four national underage league squads at U14, 15, 17 and 19 levels.

All of the teams, except the youngest, get their official campaigns underway this weekend but the pressures of funding the operation have become increasingly onerous the lower in ages the FAI have gone in transferring the responsibility of youth development onto the 19 League of Ireland clubs.

“I’ve trying to improve the coaching budget since coming into the job last year,” explained Kearney.

“I’ve told the club they’ve got to do more but I understand that the money just isn’t there, so I had to go source funding myself.

“There’s always something you need. Only last week, I spoke to Kevin Doyle, a good friend of mine. I said: “Kevin, I need a mast for the cameras to record the matches” and he said: “Alright, I’ll sort you out.”

“You have to lose that fear about asking people. Kevin was talking about having a great spell at Cork City and how he wouldn’t have gone on to have the career he did without them. That’s just part of the job.”

It would be wrong to assume Kearney’s challenges are solely attributable to the financial problems Cork have found themselves in. The paucity is a nationwide issue.

“Most of the clubs don’t have the finances,” stresses Conor O’Grady, Sligo Rovers’ academy chief. “Clubs need more full-time staff and it’s going to be a big thing going forward if we are to take the next step.”

At least Cork and Sligo have employed a figurehead to the post. Kearney and O’Grady are amongst a mere six clubs to fund their head of youth. For all the compliments Bohemians have attracted for the volume of graduates from their partners St Kevin’s Boys, it took until recently to fund a staff member dedicated to the area.

At least week’s launch of the upcoming seasons, Will Clarke shared frustrations on the funding deficit of Kearney and O’Grady. He was headhunted by the FAI at the start of last season from schoolboys’ powerhouse St Joseph’s Boys, reflecting the drift towards the national league sector being tasked with the function of producing the next generation.

Clarke hasn’t been shy since accepting the newly-created role of FAI academy development manager in citing the Government’s duties in enacting a sea-change. As it stands, it is only Uefa’s solidarity grants, rather than centralised funding from the State, that goes towards the professional constituents of the masterplan.

Niall Quinn’s long-held gripe at the racing industry being propped up by a gambling tax when the trend in the modern area is towards bets on football matches hasn’t lost its relevance. However, as Clarke outlined, the battle to accrue ringfenced funding is in its infancy.

Although Taoiseach Micheál Martin has offered positive soundbites on the exchequer doing its bit, the usual health warning applies to political promises. Over five years have passed since the Cork TD was included in a press release welcoming plans for the Glanmire-based Munster Centre of Excellence. Instead of the facility being constructed and opened by now, as was projected, not a sod has been turned. But the FAI could well do with examining inwards before they plead the poor mouth.

While they have embarked on a strategy of delegating national league clubs with hothousing the emerging gems, money for the same project has been channelled into what they brand as high-performance coaching.

Last year, the association recruited 11 coaches into eight distinct regions armed with developing an elite system across the country. Their only reference in the new strategy document is about building strong and transparent relationships with grassroots and national league clubs to improve player development. They have no official connection to national league club teams but a number are on the backroom teams of international squads. The irony here is that under the FAI’s coaching policy, staff are not permitted to work for national or league clubs, even voluntarily.

As to the cost of the high-performance cohort, one national league Academy director tried to glean the number at a recent virtual meeting of the General Assembly. Nothing concise was forthcoming from the financial side of the association, only an admission that it surpassed the €500,000 mark.

In contrast, the national league clubs receive just under €200,000 — that’s €10,500 each — to subsidise the running of four underage teams.

Brian Kerr shipped flak for claiming the professional sector didn’t have a “pot to pee in” even before they were burdened with this extra cause, yet the reality on the ground validates his assertion.

“I really don’t know what these high-performance coaches are supposed to be doing but what I do know for sure is the FAI are crippling us with costs,” said Athlone Town’s Michael O’Connor, the inquisitor at the Assembly summit. “There’s simply no cohesion to the system.”

Kearney concurs. “Sometimes it feels like you’re operating with one hand tied behind your back,” he said. “I just want funding for the whole league. If we’re talking about keeping players from signing for AC Milan, we have to be realistic about improving our professionalism. That means offering full-time roles, other than just six academy heads.

“We’re doing the best in the circumstances but it needs to be a whole lot better. It has to be.”

Happy new season.

Email: john.fallon@examiner.ie