Why Damien Duff’s involvement in Irish football offers hope for the future

On Wednesday afternoon, Ireland’s midfielder Jeff Hendrick was asked if the delay in Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane extending their contracts was a distraction for the players.

Hendrick gave as neutral an answer as he could manage. The players didn’t think about the manager’s contract , he said, but hopefully it will all be resolved without any fuss.

Players will absorb the loss of any manager if they have to, especially at international level, but while the delay is curious, Ireland need their manager to stay on, not just because of the job he has done in the qualifying campaign.

The last thing Ireland needs after the European Championships is to begin the search for another manager, convincing themselves that there is a guru out there who can make all the problems in the Irish game go away.

Instead Ireland must address the issues that arise long before players appear for the senior international side. The FAI and its Technical Director have produced the Technical Development Plan which, despite its flaws, does at least offer a vision for the future.

But there is a more urgent problem, one that isn’t unique to Ireland, but one which can only be countered by imaginative and bold plans.

The report in the Irish Independent this weekend that Damien Duff is among four former internationals who will be adding their experience as coaches to Irish underage side suggests that the FAI are willing to be bold and imaginative in this regard.

Duff, by his own admission, is unlikely to ever want the aggravation that comes with senior management, but the prospect of him spending time developing players at underage level and stressing what is required to make it as a professional is tantalising. 

Duff’s presence might offer some encouragement for the most urgent issue for the future of Irish football.

A few weeks ago, Ken Donohoe, the Academy director of Duff’s old schoolboy club St Kevin’s, remarked that one of the problems all schoolboys club have these days is that the only time a lot of their young players play football is when they show up for training two or three times a week at the club.

One of the flaws in the FAI’s plan is that clubs like St Kevin’s have been excluded from the U-17 league given the expertise they have in this area.

In England, the top young players of 14 will be with their club every day which does something to counter the problem that many young footballers who want to be footballers don’t play football any more unless it is within the structure of their club.

Anybody who watched Duff play will know that he didn’t become one of the most gifted players to have played for Ireland by seeing it as something he fitted around a busy schedule of other social engagements.

Football consumed him, he had a ball at his feet all the time and there is no other way of developing the technical skills Duff had, but which are lacking in so many players at underage level.

Wes Hoolahan is another who developed the skills naturally through hours alone with a football, but the challenge for youth coaches around the world is to find a way of replicating these methods in the controlled environment where most young players experience their football in the modern world.

The best will always have this obsessiveness, but there is a world of choice available today which was not available to previous generations. This is a good thing, but it doesn’t help produce footballers.

The presence of men like Duff, Stephen McPhail, Keith Andrews and Mark Kinsella may not alter the social habits of young footballers, but it will offer a glimpse of what is possible.

There is also no harm in the FAI’s coaching pool being widened and the addition of these former players exposes them directly to the point of view of professionals who spent many years in England and understand the demands of the game at that level.

There are a number of players with recent international experience who are keen to remain involved in the game. Robbie Keane, Stephen Hunt and John O’Shea are players who will have a lot to offer.

The long-term goal should be the development, not just of players but of coaches and managers who can comfortably and smoothly take over the senior job, without the fuss that surrounds the appointment.

Producing world-class players might be a great challenge for the FAI, but developing world-class coaches who can manage the national side should be an achievable goal.