Funding to bring fresh legs to City?

“When I started out at 14, it was very much volunteer coaches with the best of intentions; there's the ball, go and play.”

At the turn of the century when former Cork City FC player Liam Kearney got his big break to go to Nottingham Forrest aged 16, the future looked bright for Irish football at face value.

Now, more than 20 years later, Kearney is the head of Cork City FC’s youth academy which is set to share in a somewhat modest but much needed allocation of €3 million for League of Ireland (LOI) academies.

Announced in Budget 2026, the €3 million falls short of the €4.45 million requested by the FAI in its pre-budget submission, but the sum has been warmly welcomed nonetheless.

The announcement follows the publication of an independent audit by footballing analysis firm Double Pass which found that LOI academies are trailing lower ranked international competitors in key areas of staffing and contact-hours.

Liam said: “From the LOI academy point of view, we've broken some ground in the last couple of weeks in terms of getting Government funding towards giving us a better chance of developing our players here.”

“There is serious talent in the country, and this is giving us the tools to make sure that, come senior internationals, more players are in a better position to compete.”

A major factor in recent years has been Brexit which means Irish footballers can no longer go and play in Britain before turning 18. This means many young players either stay in Ireland to continue their development or look to Europe.

Liam said: “What didn't happen in line with that here was, okay, we're keeping players here – they're not going to the Man Uniteds and whatever other big clubs that young players would go to – but what are we doing to facilitate matching their infrastructure? We didn't really do that. Now, in clubs like ourselves, I feel like we've done everything we can within a limited budget to kind of make sure we're still providing talent, which we are.”

Last month, six young players at Cork City FC signed professional contracts with the club, taking their first step into professional football. This week, the Ireland U17 Head Coach Colin O’Brien announced his 21-man squad for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup including Cork City FC forward Brody Lee and Jaden Umeh.

Liam, along with every other academy head in the country, wants to see standards improve in Ireland. In the meantime, a huge part of his job is to prepare young players for the professional game, both on and off the pitch.

He said: “I went to England when I was 16 to Nottingham Forest and it absolutely opened up my mind big time to coaching and the bigger picture.

“You have to paint the bigger picture, you have to facilitate every part of the game, every facet of the game, and that's what we try to implicate at the academy, and not just us – throughout the country. That's the level that you see abroad. Probably the difference is they have more manpower.”

A lack of patience, stick-to-itiveness, and distractions off the pitch can also hinder young players’ development.

Liam continued: “We find some kids expecting things very quickly and if it doesn't happen, then it's like, ‘Well it's not for me’. We're trying to build that resilience that you just have to keep fighting, constantly battling and showing up every day to training with a good attitude.

“Football is probably the most cutthroat business in the world, in my eyes anyway. I've seen it all, I've been through it all myself, been released, been told that I'm not good enough, then getting another opportunity and taking it. It's really hard and you're trying to create that environment where you're giving the confidence but also helping them understand that this industry is going to eat you up if you're not mentally prepared for it.”

Asked if the future looks bright for the Irish national team, Liam said the new Government funding is a positive step forward but that the future remains unclear.

“I'm not sure where things are going. I think the alignment of the way we play changes with every manager and it's a worrying time for me.

“I have a little boy now who's two and I'd love for him to see things like I remember, even at the 1990 World Cup, I was very young, but I still remember how the whole nation felt because of it.

“There are players playing around Europe that have come from Irish academies that I'd like to think in the next couple of years, given the right opportunity to play for the international team, could really kick us on to another level.

“I live in hope, I'll put it that way,” he concluded.