Andy Myler backs young side to shine in the Premier Division
- Andrew Dempsey
- Wed, Feb 08 2023
UCD boss Andy Myler insists that his young side will fight to stay in the Premier Division again this season despite losing a number of key players.
The Students have lost Colm Whelan, Evan Caffrey, Dylan Duffy, Sean Brennan and Tommy Lonergan from last year’s squad as they ensured survival with a play-off win against Waterford.
But they have at least added Brendan Barr, Mikey Raggett and Adam Wells to their ranks in order to fill those gaps left behind.
And while the Students defied the odds last year to survive, their manager stressed his side will be looking to do the same this year.
“Even when results were not going our way, we never stopped enjoying ourselves playing in the Premier Division last year,” he explained.
“The challenge of that will be exactly the same this year. If you look at the calendar there is never a string of games that come up where you think, ‘these might be easy’.
“You’re always the underdog and the other team is expected to win most weeks.
“It’s a huge challenge for us but we’ll do the same as last year. We’ll treat every game with the same enthusiasm and go after it again.
“We will be doing everything in our power to play Premier Division football again.
“The players will fight for us and we’ll fight for them. Everyone will keep going after that goal.”
While UCD have lost a number of their key men from 2022, they have been able to promote from within.
As a result, many of their young talents will be looking to make their mark in the top-flight at Belfield.
“There is a good group of Under-19s that we’ll need to blood in and give game time to,” he added.
“That will be massive for them, getting game time in the Premier Division. There is a huge jump from the Under-19s to the Premier Division. But they will see game time.
“They are good players and they will be around our squad. Some aspects of their play is already at a very good level, and they will improve as they go on.”
