Published: Wednesday, 29th October, 2008 12:00pm

FAI bosses hail local soccer development

At a recent get-together of representatives from all 32 underage leagues in Sutton, County Dublin, mentors representing the Emerging Talent Programme in Cavan came in for much praise by some of the sport"s top administrators.

Local Emerging Talent co-ordinator Brian Smith, accompanied by head coach Adrian McCann (Cootehill Harps), outlined the progress made to date to a gathering which included Niall Harrison (FAI Emerging Talent co-ordinator), John Morling (FAI"s Head of Emerging Talent), Wim Koovermans (FAI National Team advisor) and Pakie Bonner (FAI Technical Director).

Smith was fulsome in his praise of the help and support rendered to him by Regional Development Officer Tom Mohan and explained how in the first year of the Emerging Talent system (2005), six players from the local area were deemed good enough to be included in the Dundalk-based Regional Emerging Talent squads.

This year another three players from the Cavan underage league have graduated to join up with the creme-de-la-creme in Dundalk.

'I think the fact that our Under 13s reached the Division Four final of the Kennedy Cup down in Limerick opened up a lot of eyes,' the aforementioned Smith explained to those assembled in Sutton.

'We feel we have a steady stream of talent coming through and we"re more than hopeful of making the division three final in Limerick next year.

'Last year we were seeded 28 out of the 32 leagues who competed in Limerick but in 2009 we anticipate that our seeding will be 28 or so such has been the level of our improvement.

'The lads emerging from the Cavan underage league have shown themselves to be well able to hold their own in Dundalk where they join up with the best of talent from the NESL (north-eastern counties) league, the Drogheda league and the Dundalk league.'

As for the future, Smith - as part of his 30 minute presentation - informed the FAI"s top brass and the other assembled Emerging Talent co-ordinators that it is envisaged that another series of Kick-Start Courses will be held early in 2009 for aspiring coaches who wish to help cater for the growing numbers of children playing the game.

'Our next step is to convince a sponsor to come on board, as the more we promote the Emerging Talent the more financial assistance we will need to tap into,' Smith concluded.

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