Well, the futures Bright (For 2014)

[MervilleUnited]

Well, that was our best eleven at the moment lads (And Lassies )
Plenty of old fashioned effort, not a lot of technique on show! And the slovakia result is the real eye-opener.

The reality is that in 1986 over 100 Irish (Rep) got one year YTS Contracts with English Clubs. In 2006 its less than a dozen.

My Opinion
Better Economy here, less desire on the park.
Half our young people playing "Native Games" only, with a Anti English Sports Bias still prevalant! (Despite Croke Park)

Parents wrapping thier Kids in Cotton wool, so much so that telling a young person that thier are doing something wrong, and need to work to correct it is bullying.

A drop of rain and it PS 2 Time

Still the FAI, thanks to Genesis, a rolling out the emerging talent programme, to target the cream with proper structured coaching. Maybe fruitful by 2014!

[Bungle]

I'm in part agreement.However,the fact is that many young kids these days are more inclined to finish their leaving certificate before going to play youth team football in England.This is surely a good thing for the kids involved.Also,the Eircom League has improved greatly in recent years(though still lots of improvement needed),which has resulted in more and more young Irish kids staying in the domestic league,before going to play in England.One of the best players on show last night was Kevin Doyle,a player even the normally quite negative Liam Brady raves about.Shane Long appears to have a great deal of talent also.I believe more and more kids are choosing to sign for clubs like Cork City etc rather than sign for lower league teams.If you look at clubs like Liverpool,Man U,Arsenal they still seem to sign Irish kids.

If you look at youth team tournaments,Irish teams,internationally and clubwise still do exceptionally well.The Milk Cup is a good example of this.

[Declan_Michael]

English clubs are buying more foreign players now which makes it harder for Irish lads to break through. In the 80's English clubs were reliant on home grown players as well those from the Celtic nations.

The fundamental problem with Irish soccer is that not enough people take an interest in the Eircom league. Imagine if all those people who fly over to Glasgow/Manchester/Liverpool on a friday night kept their Euro's supporting their local teams. The Eircom clubs would be better off and could maybe open up academies for youngsters to develop.

[pete]

The best kids will alwasy go the Premiership but i hope Doyles competitive debut will make people think about the value of the eL. Surely even the most anti-eL people can see that young players getting good experience playing in European club competitions is better than playing in the english lower leagues?

15 months ago Kevin Doyle played his last eL game.