Mackey insists results are of secondary importance to Cabo

Cabinteely F.C. assistant manager Dave Mackey says that he and the First Division new boys' head honcho Eddie Gormley's focus for their side's maiden League of Ireland season will be very much on player development and producing an eye-pleasing brand of football rather than results and league table positions.

With the club's SSE Airtricity League licence only being granted in late January, the past few weeks have been somewhat frantic for the former Bray Wanderers duo as they set about hastily assembling a squad in time to play a short programme of pre-season friendlies before next Friday's league opener with Wexford Youths at Stradbrook.

The recruitment process, which involved casting their net wide by signing up players like Evan Whelan (St. Malachy's) and Jordan Buckley (St. John Bosco) from junior and intermediate football as well as from other League of Ireland clubs, has seen them put together what is a rather youthful looking outfit which could well take some time to gel.

However, Mackey insists that, should Cabo struggle to put points on the board, he and Gormley will not be overly concerned given that their emphasis will be very much on implementing an attractive style of play which they hope will further the footballing education of their players.

''To be honest, results are not the key factor for us,'' he told ExtraTime.ie.

''Obviously we want to be competitive, but realistically we're looking at a longer term goal.

''We want to develop a young, vibrant, competitive team that builds from the back and plays attractive, attacking football but that's going to take some time.

''It might not happen until halfway through the season, it might take until the end of the year or even as long as next season but it's something we're not going to allow ourselves to be deflected from achieving.

''We're not here to work in the short term, we're here to work in the medium to long term.''

Indeed, the former Dundalk full-back believes that playing a constructive brand of football is not only important to improving the technical ability of his group, but also to helping to attract healthy crowds through the Stradbrook gates in a process he hopes will be heavily aided by the club's 1,000-strong membership.

''People want to see good football so if we want them to come out and watch us and to keep coming out to watch us it's important we play in an attractive manner,'' he said.

''We won't know for a few weeks just how many people we're going to have at our games but considering the size of its membership, we'll be hoping we'll have a strong base of support in our schoolboy section.

''There has been quite a degree of good will towards us from the local community so hopefully we can get the crowds in the gate.''

Having enjoyed successful playing careers in the league themselves, Mackey and Gormley will be able to pass on much in the way of insightful know-how to their young charges but one would have to wonder if they could have also done with adding a smattering of senior players to the mix that might have been perhaps able to offer some on-field guidance to a group that isn't exactly composed of seasoned campaigners.

Nonetheless, although he maintains that they will continue to base the make-up of their squad around youth, Mackey admits that he and his colleagues may possibly look to complement their current crop with a sprinkling of experience when the transfer window reopens in the summer.

''Our focus is very much on bringing through exciting young talent but there is an argument that if you can get the right kind of senior player, they can help to improve young players.

''If someone becomes available in the summer who we feel would be of benefit to the younger lads if we were to sign him, then we would definitely look at bringing him in.

''It's something that's always under consideration.''