Coach Education from the McCaffrey Foundation

What links the Dundalk defence, Hibernians midfield, Glentoran’s goalkeeper, Ireland Under 17s at the 2019 Euros and the top scorer in the English Women’s Championship with 12 goals in fourteen games?

The answer is that all are players from the Cavan Monaghan region- an area rich in footballing talent yet without a current senior League of Ireland team operating in the area. Monaghan United’s demise due to financial issues in 2012 has seen League of Ireland representation in the area restricted to underage sides.

Following the initial creation of the Cavan Monaghan Football Partnership which provided local underage talent with the opportunity to showcase their wares at Under 19 and Under 17 level since the initial 2015 revised Elite Under 17s League, the current guise is known as Cavan Monaghan FC and will see teams competing at Under 14, 15 and Under 17 level.

The majority of the players in the squads are drawn from the local Cavan Monaghan Underage League and, in order to support those clubs and their coaches, the Sean McCaffrey Foundation is funding a grassroots coaching programme over the next five years. Named after the pioneering former Republic of Ireland international Under 17 coach and ex Monaghan United manager, the foundation have linked up with the FAI Grassroots to launch a comprehensive and structured project to help raise the standards of coaching in the area.

At the  moment, players such Clones native Mark Connolly (Dundalk), Cavan’s Jake Doyle-Hayes (Hibernians), Scotstown’s Aaron McCarey (Glentoran), Virginia’s Sean McEvoy (ex Under 17 and current Ballinamallard) and Bailieborough’s Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool) are presently operating in the upper tiers of elite football in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England respectively while Shercock’s Oisin McEntee (on loan at Greenock Morton from Newcastle) recently made his international Under 21 bow. In addition to these current stars, players from both counties have also been capped at senior international level in the recent past- ex Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United midfielder Jonathan Douglas (Clones) and current Dundee striker Cillian Sheridan (Bailieborough) have 8 and 3 caps respectively.

The aim of the unique programme recently launched by the McCaffrey Foundation, and sponsored by Xpress Health, is to build on the foundations already in place which has helped to develop the careers of the aforementioned players and to allow local players to avail of high quality coaching in their local area in the future. To do this it is proposed to identify appropriate coaches who are based in the area to take part in the programme and maintain the legacy of Sean McCaffrey who was at the forefront of raising the standard of football in the Cavan Monaghan regions.

In the first and second years, places will be offered on PDP 1, PDP 2, PDP 3, Adult Amateur Licence and Fundamentals of Goalkeeping Workshops. Year three will see places on the National ‘D’ Licence made available while the fourth year will see coaches take part in the UEFA Grassroots Leader Certificate. The fifth and final year will see places being offered on the UEFA ‘C’ Diploma course.

This season will see the tenth anniversary of the departure from the League of Ireland of Monaghan United. With the launch of this programme, in five years time the region would be hoping to be at least halfway to a return to senior League of Ireland football.