Liam Kearney on his secret to success at the Cork City Academy 

If the big question in Irish football is how to develop the best players, Liam Kearney may have the answer.

Cork City’s Head of Academy oversaw the rise of current underage internationals Mark O’Mahony, Jaden and Franco Umeh, and Matthew Moore. The Conna native also created a clear pathway from academy to first team at the Rebel Army, a linage some clubs can only dream of.

That involves a lot of moving parts, and Kearney keeps everything going with a clear-cut way of operating and end-goal.

“The whole view of success is how many players have progressed internationally, how many players have progressed to the first team, how many from the underage teams have stepped up to the older ages, and we’ve been quite happy with all of that,” he said.

“Even the lads going on their trips and how they performed against top opposition, and even in the Elite Phases. 

"All four teams got into the Elite Phase, so they are up against top-quality opposition as well. Those are the KPIs I would have for the coaches.

Winning anything is a bonus. It really isn’t a huge concern. It is nice for the players and it is nice for the staff for the work they have put in. 

"A lot of the time it would be that we pushed a player up, that has prevented a team having success at a particular age group. From an individual standpoint, it is the right thing for the players. 

"In the long term, that is how you generate players playing first-team football and getting moves abroad as well.” 

With all of this in mind, the coach is keen to stress individual development as opposed to collective goals like winning trophies and league titles.

“Every player wants to win – that is in a player and I think it is important that we instill that winning mentality."

How they play and the style of play is far more important than the results.

“All our coaches know, even up to 20s, how we play and the style so individually they are developing in their positions with confidence. 

"So they are going to go and be the best player that they can possibly be. If you prioritise winning, you might be successful whereas, where has that player’s pathway took them? 

BALANCE

"He might have been encouraged not to get the ball down. He might have been told ‘right you’re big and strong just launch it up to him’ or ‘you’re very quick so we’ll just turn the opposition and you can run in behind the whole time’ whereas that player needs to develop his whole game, his understanding, and his movements.

“I think we have a duty of care, that we are focused on the whole holistic development of a player. 

"Where they might be very good in one area, are we working on the areas that he can be better in.” 

Kearney doesn’t have it all, the coach is still working on ways to ease the transition for young players as they move towards senior football.

“Even going from 15s to 17s can cause a lot of problems because with our end-of-season meetings you are talking about 30 players going into an 18-man squad with the U17s,” he explained.

“You have a full U17s squad, half from the 17s squad after half went up, and it makes it very difficult. 

You have to release players in that situation where you might have kept them if there was an U16 league. Then from U17s to U20s, you have that difficulty of bridging the gap.

“A player might be very good and technical but they need time. There are first-team players coming back from injury. 

"They’ll come in and play and suddenly game time will be a problem because the first team have one or two coming down to keep their fitness. It is a balancing act. It’s not easy. 

"It has been a balancing act with the U20s this year but there’s no really easy answer.”