Maciej Tarnogrodzki announced as UCD under 19 manager

UCD have announced the appointment of Maciej Tarnogrodzki as the club’s new under 19 manager.

Tarnogrodzki, who will be familiar to the SSE Airtricity League community after a short spell in charge of the Bray Wanderers first team, replaces Ian Ryan, despite Ryan leading last year’s under 19s to the league trophy.

Although a lot of last season’s under 19s will be overage and go onto play with the first team in 2017, Tarnogrodzki will have a number of players from last season’s under 17s, who were beaten finalists in the 2016 SSE Airtricity under 17 league.

Shortly after the announcement UCD’s Head of Youth Development Albert Sugg gave his thoughts on what looks a promising future in Belfield.

"Maciej joins the club at an exciting time for everyone here, on the back of winning the under 19s and finished runners up in the under 17s. He comes in with a lot of experience and a proven track record at both this level and most importantly for us at this club, in developing young players and helping them reach their potential. We have a history here of developing some of the country’s best young players and I'm looking forward to working with Maciej as we look to continue this process over the coming years."

Speaking, himself after the announcement, Tarnogrodzki revealed his delight at taking on the project while revealing his ambitions for the future.

“I am very happy to join UCD AFC and manage their under 19 team in the League of Ireland. There has always been enormous talent in the UCD youth teams, with a natural progression pathway to the first team for the best players. From what I’ve seen that it also the case at the moment with many talented players across the under 19 and under 17 teams.

“There is a great structure in place at the club, with excellent recruitment as well as professional organisation of all the League of Ireland, College and LSL teams. My main focus will be to develop players through day to day coaching and improve their skills so they can be ready for senior football, and in doing this, hopefully we can also be successful and win trophies for the College.”