Last summer Shelbourne produced a seven-minute documentary about their academy. Finn Sherlock was the star of the show despite the club already announcing that the 16-year-old had signed for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Germany.
Sherlock was left-back on the Republic of Ireland under-17 side that beat Iceland 5-0 this week to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar in November, expertly scoring a penalty after the unplayable Jaden Umeh was fouled.
If the FAI top brass are struggling to speak the language of the Minister of State for Sport Charlie McConalogue, they could dim the lights at next week’s meeting in Government Buildings to reveal Sherlock’s daily routine before he left Ireland to further his career.
The documentary begins with Shelbourne’s under-14 manager John Moore driving to the airport to collect Sherlock off the bus from Cavan, where he lived until the move to Germany. The teenager finished school at 12.20pm to begin a six-hour round trip for training at the AUL Complex in Clonshaugh.
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The fly-on-the-wall camera showed the fine work being done by Shels academy director Colm Barron on a shoestring budget while also revealing the Premier Division champions’ antiquated facilities.
Between 4pm-9pm Sherlock and the other academy boys had a pitch session followed by recovery, food, weights, homework and a second pitch session before the 9.50pm bus might get him home before midnight.
Sherlock is just one example of a high potential teenage footballer, who does not live close to a League of Ireland academy, leaving his family behind to carve out a career in an environment that offers him an education.
This does not currently exist in the Republic of Ireland. Hoffenheim describe their academy as an “elite football school” that provide the children in their care with the “optimal combination of intensive training and a solid education”.
McConalogue, who increased the Horse and Greyhound racing fund by €4.1 million in 2024 when he was in the Department of Agriculture, should also know about Mason Melia.
The first million-euro Irish teenager with a move secured to Tottenham Hotspur in January 2026, St Patrick’s Athletic manager Stephen Kenny previously revealed that Melia needed to be told about the importance of eating breakfast before he embarks on a 100km round trip with his mother from Newtownmountkennedy to get to training every day.
The 17-year-old also decided to leave school after his Junior Certificate to focus on football before agreeing the five-year deal with Spurs. In those wasted hours that Sherlock used to commute on the “Donegal expressway” and when Melia’s mother is combating M50 traffic, Hoffenheim’s “six partner schools” provide extra tutorials at their training facility.
The FAI and clubs are aware that a similar system has existed since the 1990s in the south Dublin rugby schools that drive the IRFU financial model by producing most of its professional players.
St Pat’s and Shels are striving to match the standards set by the Shamrock Rovers academy after the Tallaght club supplied four members of Colin O’Brien’s under-17s with four more – Michael Noonan, Muhammad Oladiti, Goodness Ogbonna and Archie Quinn – to potentially feature at the 48-team World Cup in Doha.
Rovers are also thinking outside the box to secure State funding by reclassifying their academy as a childcare service.
Back in Abbotstown, the FAI’s chief football officer Marc Canham is struggling to convince League of Ireland clubs to release their players aged 14-17 for extra sessions during schools holidays.
These stopgap gatherings, until the Government agrees to grant funding of €8 million annually for academies, were supposed to start over the Easter holidays but the clubs described a recent presentation by Canham and his number two Shane Robinson as “poorly conceived” and they are refusing to release players until the FAI get their house in order.
“Think of Evan Ferguson, one of the last players to move before Brexit kicked in,” said Canham this week. “Compare him as a 17-year-old to a 17-year-old now. He’s in every single day at Brighton, he is doing his education, sports science, football, sometimes twice a day. It’s night and day to what happens here.
“That’s no reflection of the people who are working hard here, but we need to create that for our young players to give them the best chance of success.”
Canham, who previously worked for the Premier League, says that the current impasse “is quite normal” before adding “I have been through this process with some of the biggest clubs in the world”.
As the squabbling and procrastination continue, Sherlock is being molded into a professional by the German system while Umeh left Cork City for Portuguese giants Benfica.
Up Next
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley could field the returning Ireland under-17 winger Victor Ozhianvuna and under-19 striker Noonan in tonight’s meeting with Derry City at Tallaght Stadium.
Virgin Media’s live match has league leaders Drogheda United travelling to Turners Cross where Cathal O’Sullivan is due back for Cork. Keith Long’s Waterford host St Pat’s at the RSC where Melia could feature after becoming the youngest ever Ireland under-21s goal scorer in Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat of Hungary.
