Murphy Set for Newcastle Trial
Credit:
Dundalk FC have confirmed that Nathan Murphy will travel to England this weekend for a four-day trial with Newcastle United, which will run from Sunday to Wednesday. The 16-year-old has been at Oriel Park since joining the club’s youth system in June of last year and his progress has been notable, culminating in him making his full first-team debut last month at double champions Bohemians at Dalymount Park.
Bond delighted
Youths and U20s team manager Ciarán Bond, who has coached Murphy over the past 12 months, has expressed his delight with the trial and believes it will strongly benefit the youngster, who turns 17 on 1 November. “It’s absolutely brilliant,” Bond told dundalkfc.com. “It’s great to see. He’s a young lad from Dundalk who has played all his football in the Schoolboys League, he has come up here and has broken into the first team, and now he’s got an opportunity to go over to Newcastle on trial, so we wish him the very best.”
Bright future
Bond is also confident that Murphy will be able to keep his feet on the ground despite being selected by scouts from the Championship club. “Nathan is a very level-headed guy, probably the most level-headed of the youth team squad that I have anyway,” he said. “There’ll be no problem at all with Nathan. If it doesn’t work out for him, he will learn from the experience and he’ll come back here a better player, even with the experience over there. And if it does work out for him, all the better.” The strides made by Murphy in such a short space of time was also noted by Bond. “This time last year, Nathan hadn’t broken into our youths squad,” he said. “That was primarily down to the fact that Nathan was only 16. He has come from that and, although he’s still only 16, he has progressed really well and he has a big future ahead of him.
Quality prospect
“If he doesn’t make it across the water, he’ll definitely make it in the League of Ireland,” he added. “Without a doubt, he has the qualities. I met his father a couple of months ago and he’s about 6ft3, so Nathan is going to be a big guy too. Physically, he’ll have no problems, he has got the build already, and we can work on that. He played against Bohs in his first competitive match, and if he can stand up to Bohs in this league then he can stand up to anybody. He won’t have a problem mentally either. His attitude is perfect, so I can’t see a problem, plus he’s left-footed, which is a major asset. He is going to learn from the experience. He’s going to get good coaching over there and it’s going to be a totally new experience for him, so he’ll be a far better player coming back even with that experience behind him. Newcastle are a big club, and if it doesn’t work with them, who’s to say that another club lower down the Championship or lower down the Premiership won't have a look at him again.”
Toon invitation
Head of Youth Development Martin Connolly also feels it will further help the progress of Murphy, who has unfortunately had to withdraw from the Leinster squad due to Newcastle’s call. “Newcastle contacted Sean (Connor) and said that they’d be interested in inviting Nathan over for four days,” Connolly explained to dundalkfc.com on how the trial came about. “I think there’s also two or three other guys from a couple of Dublin clubs going with him, so he’s not on his own, which is good. People may not believe this but there’s always English clubs coming over and watching a number of people here. It’s a regular occurrence that you have scouts coming over. Obviously, one of them came and watched Nathan and was interested in what they seen.
Leinster negative
“You always try to play these things down,” Connolly added. “Nathan is a sensible lad, he’s in his Leaving Cert year at the moment and his primary concern is his Leaving Cert. But this is a bonus for him. It’s during his mid-term break, so it falls nicely for him - his mother is happy for him to go, and he’s happy himself to go. The club and Sean too are happy for him to take the chance. But with one positive, there’s one negative in that Nathan was in the Leinster squad for the Interprovincial competition this weekend. He’s supposed to actually be in Donegal this weekend playing for Leinster, and we’ve had to pull him out of that. That is a negative for him because that also would have been a good competition for him to play in. But, myself, Sean and the club feel that he would probably be better going to Newcastle and taking up this opportunity.
Big benefit
“Without doubt, it benefits him,” the former Dundalk goalkeeper continued. “He’s going to work with Newcastle’s academy, so they will probably look at him size-wise and age-wise, and what teams he would fit into, because that’s the way that things work over there. I would have contact with people who were over before and I have seen the way that the academies work in England, so I know probably what they would be looking at. It’s a tremendous experience. Nathan is 17 shortly, so it’s a hell of a birthday present for him. But he might have ten trials with different clubs, because clubs don’t want to take chances on fellas over there now. If nothing happens for him, it’s still a good experience for him. It’s also good for us and our setup that we’ve got a young lad away to a club. He’ll only be able to bring that experience back to us.
‘Great chap’ “I couldn’t speak highly enough of Nathan,” Connolly concluded. “He’s a great, well-mannered chap and he knows it’s a trial, he knows exactly what this is. We’re all delighted for him and we have no doubt that Nathan will do his very best to conduct himself in the right manner, and we wouldn’t expect anything less from him. I’m sure there’s a wee bit of excitement rather than nervousness, but I don’t think anything will faze him. His full senior debut was in Dalymount Park against the double winners, where he ended up marking Killian Brennan and Joseph Ndo at 16 years of age. I don’t think anything else is going to faze him. Nathan came to us over 12 months ago and he didn’t play with our youths team until after Christmas, because he was so young and light. But when he got into our youths team, we couldn’t get him out. He has improved constantly ever since, and if he keeps improving at the rate he has improved in the last 12 months then he could be an exceptional player. None of us have a crystal ball, but if he continues to improve as he has done, he can go the whole way, I think.” Murphy will be available for the visit of Shamrock Rovers to Oriel Park on Friday night, while he will also be in the squad for the trip to Cork City seven days later.
Bond delighted
Youths and U20s team manager Ciarán Bond, who has coached Murphy over the past 12 months, has expressed his delight with the trial and believes it will strongly benefit the youngster, who turns 17 on 1 November. “It’s absolutely brilliant,” Bond told dundalkfc.com. “It’s great to see. He’s a young lad from Dundalk who has played all his football in the Schoolboys League, he has come up here and has broken into the first team, and now he’s got an opportunity to go over to Newcastle on trial, so we wish him the very best.”
Bright future
Bond is also confident that Murphy will be able to keep his feet on the ground despite being selected by scouts from the Championship club. “Nathan is a very level-headed guy, probably the most level-headed of the youth team squad that I have anyway,” he said. “There’ll be no problem at all with Nathan. If it doesn’t work out for him, he will learn from the experience and he’ll come back here a better player, even with the experience over there. And if it does work out for him, all the better.” The strides made by Murphy in such a short space of time was also noted by Bond. “This time last year, Nathan hadn’t broken into our youths squad,” he said. “That was primarily down to the fact that Nathan was only 16. He has come from that and, although he’s still only 16, he has progressed really well and he has a big future ahead of him.
Quality prospect
“If he doesn’t make it across the water, he’ll definitely make it in the League of Ireland,” he added. “Without a doubt, he has the qualities. I met his father a couple of months ago and he’s about 6ft3, so Nathan is going to be a big guy too. Physically, he’ll have no problems, he has got the build already, and we can work on that. He played against Bohs in his first competitive match, and if he can stand up to Bohs in this league then he can stand up to anybody. He won’t have a problem mentally either. His attitude is perfect, so I can’t see a problem, plus he’s left-footed, which is a major asset. He is going to learn from the experience. He’s going to get good coaching over there and it’s going to be a totally new experience for him, so he’ll be a far better player coming back even with that experience behind him. Newcastle are a big club, and if it doesn’t work with them, who’s to say that another club lower down the Championship or lower down the Premiership won't have a look at him again.”
Toon invitation
Head of Youth Development Martin Connolly also feels it will further help the progress of Murphy, who has unfortunately had to withdraw from the Leinster squad due to Newcastle’s call. “Newcastle contacted Sean (Connor) and said that they’d be interested in inviting Nathan over for four days,” Connolly explained to dundalkfc.com on how the trial came about. “I think there’s also two or three other guys from a couple of Dublin clubs going with him, so he’s not on his own, which is good. People may not believe this but there’s always English clubs coming over and watching a number of people here. It’s a regular occurrence that you have scouts coming over. Obviously, one of them came and watched Nathan and was interested in what they seen.
Leinster negative
“You always try to play these things down,” Connolly added. “Nathan is a sensible lad, he’s in his Leaving Cert year at the moment and his primary concern is his Leaving Cert. But this is a bonus for him. It’s during his mid-term break, so it falls nicely for him - his mother is happy for him to go, and he’s happy himself to go. The club and Sean too are happy for him to take the chance. But with one positive, there’s one negative in that Nathan was in the Leinster squad for the Interprovincial competition this weekend. He’s supposed to actually be in Donegal this weekend playing for Leinster, and we’ve had to pull him out of that. That is a negative for him because that also would have been a good competition for him to play in. But, myself, Sean and the club feel that he would probably be better going to Newcastle and taking up this opportunity.
Big benefit
“Without doubt, it benefits him,” the former Dundalk goalkeeper continued. “He’s going to work with Newcastle’s academy, so they will probably look at him size-wise and age-wise, and what teams he would fit into, because that’s the way that things work over there. I would have contact with people who were over before and I have seen the way that the academies work in England, so I know probably what they would be looking at. It’s a tremendous experience. Nathan is 17 shortly, so it’s a hell of a birthday present for him. But he might have ten trials with different clubs, because clubs don’t want to take chances on fellas over there now. If nothing happens for him, it’s still a good experience for him. It’s also good for us and our setup that we’ve got a young lad away to a club. He’ll only be able to bring that experience back to us.
‘Great chap’ “I couldn’t speak highly enough of Nathan,” Connolly concluded. “He’s a great, well-mannered chap and he knows it’s a trial, he knows exactly what this is. We’re all delighted for him and we have no doubt that Nathan will do his very best to conduct himself in the right manner, and we wouldn’t expect anything less from him. I’m sure there’s a wee bit of excitement rather than nervousness, but I don’t think anything will faze him. His full senior debut was in Dalymount Park against the double winners, where he ended up marking Killian Brennan and Joseph Ndo at 16 years of age. I don’t think anything else is going to faze him. Nathan came to us over 12 months ago and he didn’t play with our youths team until after Christmas, because he was so young and light. But when he got into our youths team, we couldn’t get him out. He has improved constantly ever since, and if he keeps improving at the rate he has improved in the last 12 months then he could be an exceptional player. None of us have a crystal ball, but if he continues to improve as he has done, he can go the whole way, I think.” Murphy will be available for the visit of Shamrock Rovers to Oriel Park on Friday night, while he will also be in the squad for the trip to Cork City seven days later.
