KDUL get off to winning start in Macron Galway Cup
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Amongst damp weather at The Drom of Salthill Devon, the Kildare & District Underage League (KDUL) achieved a 3-0 win over Clare in the opening day of the Macron Galway Cup and, more importantly, a great performance as they kept chances to a minimum at the back, despite their attacking style of play which saw them create numerous shooting opportunities going forward.
When Extratime.ie caught up with the KDUL’s Pat McNally, he was content with the result and performance as he said, “We’re happy enough with that as it’s important in this competition to start out that way,” alluding to the fact that the team are in the tough age category of 2003 Elite. While admitting that strong wind out during the match made for “very difficult conditions for both teams”, he felt the scoreline fairly reflected the team’s effort.
With him currently involved as the KDUL secretary, whilst also sitting on the board of the SFAI, Pat was a part of the board that announced the link-up with St. Patrick’s Athletic’s underage set-up earlier this year. With former KDUL and Moone Celtic player Mark McGinley in the Saints’ U17 squad, McNally sees the arrangement with “the intention that it’s a player pathway for players to move on to St. Patrick’s under 17s and under 19s and into the new under 15 league coming on board.”
When asked about whether the U15 League of Ireland would be a step in the right direction for youth development, his response was one that may already be in the mind of many a youth coach: “It depends an awful lot on what they’re going to do with it.
“In my opinion it has to be some sort of hybrid system, where you would have to cater for league sides as well as League of Ireland clubs”, he pondered before revealing, “We intend on applying for an application to play in the under 15 league and we’ll be hopefully considered.”
When asked could it be more regionalised than the existing U17 and U19 formats, he agreed by saying it could “have twenty-four teams, playing in groups of eight” in order to be more local for clubs around the country.
However, if the thought of an U15 League of Ireland side was a sign of future senior dreams, McNally said “it would be a big step” to even consider building up into the U17 and U19 leagues. The difficulty would be finance, in his opinion, with it being expensive to even enter the U15 league or an U13 league further down the line.
The KDUL would be looking at “some sort of system where St Patrick’s Athletic might own the players and that they loan them back out to us [for the U15 side], then our better players would go to St Pats at under 17 level.” This, he felt, would be the ideal scenario for everyone concerned.
With the talent and organisation of the KDUL side on show during their opening day victory, let us hope that a league application is accepted to see Kildare return amongst the League of Ireland elite.
