Denis Behan champions youth development in Munster

For many supporters of Cork City FC, Denis Behan is remembered for being part of the 2005 Premier Division winning squad and scoring the winning goal for City in the 2007 FAI Cup final against Longford Town.

Now, Behan plays a key role in the Munster operation of Coerver Coaching. Coerver is a comprehensive coaching program for young players, teaching both individual skills and team play to boys and girls with programs for players of all ages and abilities.

Coerver’s mission statement is “To develop skilled, confident, creative players who combine well with teammates and have the skills to go it alone”.

Developing basic skills in young players is something that motivates Behan.

A recent example of Coerver's work is a 3v3 tournament at the Marina Market, with competitions for boys and girls across various age groups to celebrate the start of Euro 24. Another key figure in this venture, alongside Behan, is another Cork City playing legend, Derek Coughlan.

Behan tells extratime.com, “We saw a gap in the market for skills and basic skills in the games, the fundamentals around ball mastery. There are loads of coaching courses in Cork, where you have kids that are at so-called elite level."

"Whereas with Coerver, we are really looking at kids that need to improve basic ball mastery skills. No matter what area you are on the pitch, a one v one is always going to happen. Nobody teaches the art of being comfortable in a one v one situation and have the skill level to be able to get out of that situation.

"That is what I really like about the Coerver methodology and the ball mastery, is that it makes children more comfortable in that environment. From that, then we developed onto our three v three air pitches. We were the first in Ireland to bring in three v three air pitches. We create an environment where the kids are constantly playing and they are back to street football.”

Behan was part of the 2005 League of Ireland Premier Division side at City. A number of that squad have gone on to have impressive careers in coaching to date. Liam Kearney is the current head of the academy at Cork City, while Colin O’Brien is the manager of the Republic of Ireland U17s side.

Other teammates of Behan’s from that City 2005 title-winning team also have gone down the coaching route. Neal Fenn and Joe Gamble made up the Cork City first-team management in 2019-2020. While Dan Murray is part of the current U20s City management setup under boss Greg Yelverton.

“The fanbase is probably second to none in terms of the atmosphere when you go out there. When the team are really pumping, like when we won the league in 2005, I am nearly sure there were 8,000-10,000 inside in the stadium. You really know the fans get behind the team.

"When there is an honesty in the team and a work rate in the team, the fans will still get behind it, even if the results aren’t going their way, they will still get behind it because they know there is an honesty there.”

Behan added: “For City to get back up into the Premier I think it would be a huge boost for the league as well. You are seeing fan numbers increase everywhere.

"If you have in Dublin pushing on with the Bohs development, with Tallaght and what they are doing with the stadium.

"The league needs your Sligo’s, Waterford’s, Galway’s, Derry’s and Cork’s to really have a strong squad and a strong team to be able to compete at that level. The games we used to be involved in when we played those teams were unbelievable.

"We need to have the regional teams in the Premier Division and we need to have the players there competing at a level week in and week out.”

Denis Behan was part of some of the most memorable days in the history of Cork City, with the title-winning victory against Derry City in 2005 a standout memory.

The likes of Charlie Lyons, Greg Bolger, and Evan McLaughlin will hope that the current City squad can bring nights like that back to Leeside once again.