Staying just a little longer

Picking the right time to leave home can be tricky as many quickly discover that their eagerness to move on doesn’t always go according to plan.

Of course, there will always be some who settle quicker to their new surroundings. Although evidence suggests that staying a little longer before eventually departing can prove to be beneficial.

In football terms this refers who the young players who are now opting to start their careers in the Airtricity League before moving abroad in the hope of making it at a big club.

This switch has been a long time in coming though. Stretching back through history, if a player was deemed good enough to make it as a professional footballer they were snapped up by an English or Scottish club. While this is a trend that still continues, there is now an alternative for players to bulk up on their football education.

Just ask players like Seamus Coleman and Gary Deegan about how they developed and matured by playing regularly for Sligo Rovers and Bohemians before having their pick of the numerous suitors who came in for them.

There is also the example of Brian Murphy and Keith Fahey, who didn’t quite make it as youngsters in England but returned home and became better players. Now they are back plying their trade across the Irish Sea, thus proving that the domestic game can be the perfect platform for players to perfect their skills.

And then there is the opportunity of receiving international recognition. Ireland U-21 boss Don Givens has called up several home-based players in the past and he insists that he will keep doing so, if specific players stand out.

Givens believes the Airtricity League is a better place for young players to advance in their careers rather than rotting in the reserve team of a foreign club as they are at least guaranteed games in the Premier or First Division.

“Anybody who comes to the fore in the League of Ireland will be judged. If someone is playing regularly in League of Ireland, somebody like Seamus [Conneely], then they are likely to be, in some ways, in better shape than the boys who are playing reserve matches in England, because the reserve matches are not realisitic,” said Givens.

“The lads like Seamus Conneely and Kevin Long, before he went away, are playing in matches each week that meant something. They have got as much chance as anybody to get into the squad.

Picking the right time to leave home can be tricky as many quickly discover that their eagerness to move on doesn’t always go according to plan.

“The training facilities and playing facilities are better in the league now. Anybody who is of age and is playing regularly he has a reasonable chance.”

While the Aitricity League is hardly a talent factory for UK clubs, there is no doubt that it has been boosted by the decision of young players to stay a little longer.

The more players that stick around the more competitive the league will be and the more supporters will be attracted to games to see the ‘next big thing’ in action before they move on.