From Mayo's Milebush Park to Serie A, an evolving Irish football story
by Caoimhín Rowland
Irish players making the move to the continent is welcomed by football fans on this island.
Years of seeing Irish players dominate the Premier League is becoming rarer and rarer, the vast majority of our senior internatioanls occupy the bottom tiers of England’s top flight.
One player from Dublin, Justin Ferizaj of Shamrock Rovers last lined out for the ‘Hoops in Milebush, about three weeks ago.
Last weekend Serie A side Frosinone announced Ferizaj’s signature.
An intimidating fixture against Mayo League’s Under 21’s may have been the catalyst to seek senior minutes and fortune in Italy.
Frozen out by boss Stephen Bradley for refusing to sign a long term contract at Tallaght Stadium, Ferizaj looks to join a cavalcade of Irish youngsters plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues.
Jake O’Brien, formerly of Cork City and Crystal Palace reserves has made the move to France, at the weekend he made the bench for their Ligue 1 clash against Rennes.
At a commanding 6”6, the Corkonian had an impressive loan spell in Belgium last season.
A country where Irish mainstay Josh Cullen cut his teeth under Vincent Kompany for the mauve of RSC Anderlecht.
Another former Cork City player, Matt Healy turns out in the second tier of Belgian football. A move for Troy Parrott, who is still on the books of Tottenham Hotspur, the Dubliner signed for Rotterdam Excelsior in the Dutch Eredivisie. A club David Connolly scored over 40 goals with during his loan spell in Holland.
These moves translate to Stephen Kenny’s wishes for Irish players. When asked about Irish players taking more “untraditional routes” in the professional game, he was keen to emphasise his desire to see more move to France, Netherlands and Belgium. “Those leagues give minutes to younger players.”
He explained his fears of Irish youngsters opting for Italy, a trend that has become very in vogue of late.
“it’s a lot harder to break into a Serie A club side, it’s an older league,” the Ireland gaffer stated. Indeed, of the Irish players who have made the move to Italy, only Festy Ebosele has garnered close to committed numbers for his side Udinese.
James Abankwah, formerly of St. Pat’s has been a regular on the bench.
Tubbercurry native, Liam Kerrigan is playing under Cesc Fabregas at Como FC in the Italian second tier. Ed McJannett is at Lecce and is soon to be joined by another youngster from Bohemians later this week.
Interestingly, son of Olympian Rob Heffernan, Cathal was on the books of AC Milan last season.
His fellow Ireland Under 19 international Kevin Zefi is at Inter Milan. Heffernan, another commanding centre back has made the move to oil rich Newcastle United this summer, as Zefi continues in the ranks of Internazionale’s reserves.
Indeed, as Stephen Kenny alluded to, Serie A is a tough league to break into for young players.
The routes forged due to Brexit, has helped diversify Irish talents options for a career in the game. It’s too soon to look at it as a success, we’re only truly three seasons into it.
But this season's transfer window has been encouraging for Irish players on the periphery of Kenny’s senior squad as well as Jim Crawford’s Under 21 team.
The remarkably named Anselmo Garcia MacNulty is also with Parrott in the Eredivisie, MacNulty signed for PEC Zwolle.
More technical and slower paced leagues should suit Irish players, particularly those who would regress playing at League One level.
There are cautionary tales in recent years however, Jack Byrne failed to make any impact in Cyprus and Aaron Connolly was a total failure at Venezia in Serie B last year.
Ultimately, we are still unsure if European clubs are keen on League of Ireland players for a simple and negative reason, they can be signed for pennies on the pund.
Luke McNicholas for example, one of the best young goalkeepers in the league, was siphoned off by Wrexham for much less than the first reported €100,000.
A deal sees him move to Wales on loan with Wrexham able to exercise an option to buy for a modest five figure sum. There will surely come a tipping point when clubs in this country, who spend millions producing footballers, will buckle at the pressure of losing them on the cheap. Currently it is an unsustainable model to develop aspiring stars.
One thing is sure, as Mayo begins its rise to a level of historical professionalism in the county, there was one clear takeaway mood from the room on the night of Mayo F.C.'s launch, we should have the structures in place to bring through players here, without them having to move or travel to Sligo or Galway.
Indeed we should, but to retain them and turn a profit in the competitive world of professional football is an increasingly difficult feat and a unique problem for the game in Ireland.