Mason Melia F St Pats b.2007

Confirmed to be in the Under 19 squad, which hasn't been announced yet
https://www.the42.ie/andrew-moran-ir...74928-Aug2024/

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One player not in the squad but who has come on the radar of Hallgrimsson as well as Crawford is St Patrick’s Athletic’s 16-year-old striker Mason Melia.

They watched him lead the line for the Saints in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League play-off with Istanbul Basaksehir last week and were once again impressed.

“He’s a player with enormous potential and his performance that night for someone so young was outstanding. He’s certainly in our thoughts and could get pushed up in this campaign but he’s been called into the Under-19s.

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Thought the U19s had no games. They played against UCD and Bohs U20s with a home based team recently and announced two tournaments for September and October as warm ups for qualifiers in November.

Scored from the bench tonight and last weekend for Pat's. I think reducing his game time and bringing him in to games has been a good move to lessen the pressure he was under. Things beginning to look on the up. Largely did well leading the line against tougher opposition in Europe, but showed a lack of conviction at times. Pat's generally faring much better too, Elbouzedi has largely been excellent, I think they'll all finish the season strongly.

Have any professional teams been linked to him over in England? Surely a move is on the cards.

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Originally Posted by Colbert Report

Have any professional teams been linked to him over in England? Surely a move is on the cards.

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Still a year and a couple of weeks before he can move to England, but, yeah, you'd expect some movement in the next transfer window in advance of that

Can an English team sign him and loan him to a feeder club on the continent for a year? Possibly one year of first team football at this level hasn't done him any harm, but he likely would be better served moving into an academy structure overseas at this point rather than doing another year in the domestic league.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Can an English team sign him and loan him to a feeder club on the continent for a year? Possibly one year of first team football at this level hasn't done him any harm, but he likely would be better served moving into an academy structure overseas at this point rather than doing another year in the domestic league.

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What?

You're seriously suggesting academy football is better than playing senior level?

There was a story on the42 at the weekend that Man City had him over, and offered him a deal to sign, and immediately go on loan to Belgium, but he turned it down

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

What?

You're seriously suggesting academy football is better than playing senior level?

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Depends on the academy. Hed get better coaching at most elite club academies so it depends on what is more important really, playing with men or getting coached by the best coaches in the world

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

What?

You're seriously suggesting academy football is better than playing senior level?

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Depends on the standard of the academy and the standard of the senior football, but at that age of course it can be. I'd much rather see a 16 or 17 year old playing and learning the skills of the game correctly in an intensive, high quality academy environment rather than being kicked up and down the park for a year by senior pros while getting fewer training and contact hours overall.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Depends on the standard of the academy and the standard of the senior football, but at that age of course it can be. I'd much rather see a 16 or 17 year old playing and learning the skills of the game correctly in an intensive, high quality academy environment rather than being kicked up and down the park for a year by senior pros while getting fewer training and contact hours overall.

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He's not playing Sunday league for god's sake.

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

He's not playing Sunday league for god's sake.

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Hes also not getting coached by top level coaches

He signed a contract with Pat's until he's 19, has been offered moves + loans from the UK and moves to the continent, from what I've read he and his family feel staying at Pat's is what is best for him until he's 18. I for one think trying to ship kids out of the country asap is terrible for their development as people and we end up with far more broken men than we do professional footballers from the experience. He's doing incredibly well for his age, both at club and international level, I'm sure the coaching he's getting at Pat's is fine, as is the contact hours with the international sides.

The debate about coaching/development/academies and all of that has been done to death here, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he will be playing most games for a Pat's side that win the league next season and that will do him no harm before he makes his move.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Depends on the academy. Hed get better coaching at most elite club academies so it depends on what is more important really, playing with men or getting coached by the best coaches in the world

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Just look at Mark O'Mahony. Going to Brighton has worked wonders for him. Don't think he'd be at the level he's at now if he stayed in Ireland and that would be down to the coaching. Similar would Ferguson be at his level if he stayed at home till 18/19?

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Originally Posted by JR89

Just look at Mark O'Mahony. Going to Brighton has worked wonders for him. Don't think he'd be at the level he's at now if he stayed in Ireland and that would be down to the coaching. Similar would Ferguson be at his level if he stayed at home till 18/19?

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Funny enough Im not a big fan of O'Mahony either tbh. I dont think hes remotely close to Ferguson. We'll see how his loan goes, but even tonight when he came on for the u21s I thought he was pretty poor. Hes gotten goals at underage level but I just dont think hes particularly mobile or a great footballer.

The thing we've never seen before, is what happens to the best kids who stay at home, so it will be interesting to watch over the coming years. 99% of people who were ever going to be internationals were gone by 15 until very recently, Evan is one of the very last ones on the boat in that regard. Might be a few kids from Derry who can still go like Trent #2, but otherwise they're off to Europe at 16 as we all know.

Usually lads who have played tons of first team in the LOI and gone over later, are people who weren't seen as good enough to picked up by foreign clubs as kids, or had already come home and rebuilt. Mason is probably the highest profile in a new generation with different options who has chosen to stay.

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Originally Posted by JR89

Just look at Mark O'Mahony. Going to Brighton has worked wonders for him. Don't think he'd be at the level he's at now if he stayed in Ireland and that would be down to the coaching. Similar would Ferguson be at his level if he stayed at home till 18/19?

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Mark O'Mahony went over when he was 18 and only needed ten months in the academy at Brighton before getting promoted to the first team squad, so the base grounding he got at Cork city was obviously good enough. Jake O'Brien was nearly 20 when he went to Palace. Having the best coaches in the world isn't necessarily best if a young player is competing against against 50 top youngsters from around the globe for minutes. Even within the Premier league, it's been better for our lads to go to middling teams rather than the big boys, with Brighton alone guiding four Irish players to high level first team football recently (Connolly, Ferguson, Moran and now O'Mahony) while the big six have just given us Kelleher and Parrott

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Funny enough Im not a big fan of O'Mahony either tbh. I dont think hes remotely close to Ferguson. We'll see how his loan goes, but even tonight when he came on for the u21s I thought he was pretty poor. Hes gotten goals at underage level but I just dont think hes particularly mobile or a great footballer.

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I don't think we should be comparing O'Mahony to Ferguson, it's almost unfair. The question is more could he develop into more of an Idah standard of centre forward with the right coaching mixed with game time. The answer might be no, but he signed for the right club to give him the best chance of making it, albeit going over two years older than Ferguson and Idah did means he's playing catch-up from the off.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

I don't think we should be comparing O'Mahony to Ferguson, it's almost unfair. The question is more could he develop into more of an Idah standard of centre forward with the right coaching mixed with game time. The answer might be no, but he signed for the right club to give him the best chance of making it, albeit going over two years older than Ferguson and Idah did means he's playing catch-up from the off.

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Agreed, thats kinda what I said about Melia too. If he becomes Idah thats a massive success. I thought Idah was a brilliant underage player though, I would say he was better at 18/19 than O'Mahony is now.

Ferguson is a generational talent and theres no one else comparable to him at his best.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Agreed, thats kinda what I said about Melia too. If he becomes Idah thats a massive success. I thought Idah was a brilliant underage player though, I would say he was better at 18/19 than O'Mahony is now.

Ferguson is a generational talent and theres no one else comparable to him at his best.

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That is fair I think. People forget how good idah was underage and how silky and natural he looked. I'd say o mahony has probably scored as many underage bur has always looked much less silky or natural but a very effective goalscorer