Big season to come for three Premier League hopefuls from Cork 

Ever since the first round of Premier League games in August 1992, there's been some link to Cork at the highest level of the English football pyramid.

Their names are known all across the world, starting with Roy Keane and Denis Irwin, two members of the all-conquering Manchester United side under Sir Alex Ferguson. 

In recent years, the baton is held by goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after he helped Liverpool win two EFL Cups and the FA Cup with Jurgen Klopp as his manager.

There’s also John Egan, who played for Sheffield United in the Premier League for two stints and Jake O’Brien, who has moved to Everton this summer after a season with Lyon in France.

For 32 years there has been some bridge between the Rebel County and the highest level of the English football pyramid, and that pattern looks set to continue over the next ten months with a fresh crop of young players aiming to step up.

Mark O’Mahony is one of the first names people will think of, with the striker looking to build on a number of appearances with Brighton & Hove Albion during the second half of the 2023-24 season.

The Carrigaline native joined the club just over 18 months ago, and he rose from the Seagulls’ academy to the fringes of their first team under Roberto De Zerbi.

The forward’s problem this year is that the coach has since left Brighton and is now working at Marseille in France.

Fabian Hürzeler is now in charge at the Amex guiding St. Pauli to promotion to the Bundesliga last term, and that means a whole new set of proven ideas.

O’Mahony will have to win the German over if he is to continue is ascent at Brighton, and the striker had a platform to do it as he was included in the first-team squad for their tour of Japan during the summer and there was an appearance as a substitute in the club’s final game of preseason against Villarreal.

What the future holds for the striker, given his rise, is uncertain. 

A loan move is a possibility, that is what Brighton did for Andrew Moran’s development by sending him to Blackburn Rovers, but any talk is pure speculation.

STEPPING UP

The same goes for Cathal Heffernan, who spent the last few weeks training and playing with the Newcastle United first team.

The defender, who came through at Ringmahon Rangers before joining Cork City, has been in the north-east of England since August 2023 and he is now working under Eddie Howe. That followed a prolonged spell with the Magpies’ academy, which included a run of appearances in the UEFA Youth League.

The defender, like O’Mahony, was included in his club’s squad for a tour of Japan and that included a run out with the first team during a game with Urawa Red Diamonds at the Saitama Stadium.

A number of readings can be done on this. 

What is common knowledge is that Newcastle United know that they need to sell players so they are compliant with the Premier League’s spending rules, and youth team graduates are cheap. 

There could be further games for Heffernan in the black and white jersey, only those would be in the EFL Cup or lesser fixtures at the end of the Europa League group stages.

The same questions also surround Franco Umeh, who has played for Crystal Palace since January 2023.

He is a pure regular goal scorer, something be broadcast to the nation while playing for the Republic of Ireland U17s, and he turned this into a trophy by scoring the winning goal in the Premier League International Cup final against PSV last May.

That started talk of time with the first team, and he was rewarded this summer under Oliver Glasner.

That is exactly what happened and Umeh ended up on the flight to the United States for games with Wolves and West Ham.

This could be a positive sign, but Jake O’Brien followed that path and ended up loaned out to R.W.D. Molenbeek as soon as the season properly started. He was later sold to Lyon without a Premier League appearance, and now he is back in England with Everton.

Umeh could go down the same path and spend the next 10 months with a team in the EFL or on the continent, where the goal is learning the pace of first-team football while adjusting to the physical nature of the sport.

He won’t be the only one. Any player listed could be sent out to cut their teeth in the gruelling lower leagues, or kept in an academy-like environment, forever waiting on a call-up by a manager trying to cope with a run of fixtures over the festive period.

The important thing, from a local point of view, is that there are household names breaking through in England and living the impossible dream. Heffernan, O’Mahony, and Umeh have made it and now it is all about finding a place that suits them so they can play football instead of forever fighting for that breakthrough between academy and first team.