Seagulls place trust in youth
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Bray Wanderers supporters have become used to their club giving a break to young players and that is a theme that will continue in 2010 as they promote the latest batch of graduates.
The Seagulls suffered relegation from the Premier Division last season and were expected to slash their budget for this year in order to keep the club on a solid footing.
Part of that process means that the first-team squad will be made up mostly of youngsters and manager Eddie Gormley’s task will be a lot tougher due to that.
However, Gormley and his backroom team have proved over the past couple of years to having a knack of spotting local talent and then developing them into League of Ireland players.
He will be hoping that Carl Donnelly (Pegasus) can be the latest to follow the likes of Jay O’Shea, Gary McCabe and Gareth Coughlan, who all made their name at The Showgrounds before moving on to bigger clubs.
With the youth set-up producing some top class players, Gormley has been able to convince Shane O’Neill, Ian Tuohy, Dave O’Neill, Dean Zambra, Kieran Waters, Dylan Vickers, Dean Fletcher, Shane O’Connor, Nicky Byrne, Ian Masterson, Gareth Fitzsimons, Guy King-Hall, Kevin Byrne all to re-join the club this year.
The Bray supremo has also handed out contracts to Gary Murphy, Philip Higgins, Conor Thomas, Robert Lambert as he prepares for what will be a difficult season back in the First Division.
The Seagulls suffered relegation from the Premier Division last season and were expected to slash their budget for this year in order to keep the club on a solid footing.
Part of that process means that the first-team squad will be made up mostly of youngsters and manager Eddie Gormley’s task will be a lot tougher due to that.
However, Gormley and his backroom team have proved over the past couple of years to having a knack of spotting local talent and then developing them into League of Ireland players.
He will be hoping that Carl Donnelly (Pegasus) can be the latest to follow the likes of Jay O’Shea, Gary McCabe and Gareth Coughlan, who all made their name at The Showgrounds before moving on to bigger clubs.
With the youth set-up producing some top class players, Gormley has been able to convince Shane O’Neill, Ian Tuohy, Dave O’Neill, Dean Zambra, Kieran Waters, Dylan Vickers, Dean Fletcher, Shane O’Connor, Nicky Byrne, Ian Masterson, Gareth Fitzsimons, Guy King-Hall, Kevin Byrne all to re-join the club this year.
The Bray supremo has also handed out contracts to Gary Murphy, Philip Higgins, Conor Thomas, Robert Lambert as he prepares for what will be a difficult season back in the First Division.
About Gareth Maher
Gareth Maher is an award-winning journalist who has covered domestic, international and women's football for the best part of a decade. Previously a columnist for the Irish Daily Mail and Football Editor for Setanta Sports, … View Full Profile