Dan Murray: When you play for Cork City you have to believe in the club

NEW Cork City U19 manager Dan Murray is looking forward to working with coach Steven Beattie and believes that the strong core of former players in the academy can be a big positive.

In the wake of the appointment of Liam Kearney as head of City’s academy – replacing Colin Healy after his ascension to the senior job – Murray was appointed last week, with David Moore taking over the U17s while Stephen Bermingham and Greg Yelverton will be in charge of the U15s and U14s respectively.

Murray, who captained City to the 2005 league title, 2007 FAI Cup and 2008 Setanta Cup, will have Beattie – who is returning to the club as a player – as his coach and he is delighted with the prospect.

“Beats has obviously come back, which is great for the first team, first of all,” he says.

“He’s looking forward and he’s going to do his coaching badges, so he’ll be a great addition to my coaching squad as well.

“Obviously, he’s a player who’s playing at the minute so he can give the lads advice on exactly what they need to do. He’s going to be a guy that they can talk to at any time, pick his brains for what they have to do to be successful with Cork City.

“Whatever he adds on the coaching side, him just being around the place is going to be brilliant for me and brilliant for the club going forward.”

With so many former players as well as experienced underage coaches, Murray is very optimistic about the future of the academy and, by extension, the senior team.

When you play for Cork City, you have to believe in what the club is all about,” he says.

“Me being a manager, Steven Beattie, Colin obviously and Liam Kearney now and the other underage managers, they all know what Cork City is about and where we need to be and where we’re looking to go.

“The academy has been going great the last couple of years and we have to keep pushing.”