Melia example shows upsides of U17s post-Brexit pathway

The Republic of Ireland men’s Under-17s will get their European Championship campaign underway today when they take on Poland.

It will be a match that will be live to watch on the RTÉ News channel and the RTÉ Player at 3.30pm as will the subsequent group games against Wales [Saturday, KO 3.30pm] and hosts Hungary [next Tuesday, KO 7pm].

Former senior international Keith Treacy played at that age grade back in 2004 and the potential exploits of Colin O’Brien’s current crop brought back memories of his involvement in Ireland’s Toyota International Youth Cup trip to Japan which he reminisced about on this week’s RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

“There are a couple of memories,” he said.

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“The flight to Japan was 11 hours to get to where we were going and we had to fly onwards then to Nagoya. So it was an awful long time to get there.

“But once the jet lag wore off and we got into the tournament, I really enjoyed it I have to say.

“I didn’t have any idea that football was so, so big in Japan back then, so it was brilliant to go over there and play football for Ireland at that age group and it was excellent just to be able to travel and do those sorts of things.

“Brilliant memories and probably ones you don’t realise at the time, but they’re probably some of the best memories you have now, so excellent memories to be able to look back upon.”

Half of the squad named at the time by the late Sean McCaffrey were English-based, including Treacy who was already on the books at Blackburn Rovers after moving from Belvedere, with the other half at domestic clubs.

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Fast forward almost 20 years into the current post-Brexit reality and the 20-player panel O’Brien has named for Hungary only has two members at teams outside of Ireland.

One of the overwhelming League of Ireland academy contingent included in the travelling party is 15-year-old Mason Melia, who was given his senior St Patrick’s Athletic debut against Drogheda United last Friday, becoming the club’s youngest ever player as well as highlighting the importance of the domestic pathway towards first-team football.

“Mason is a brilliant player. I had Mason in the 17s last year and he quickly moved up to our 19s and obviously he’s now moved into the first team,” said Treacy of the youngster.

“I went to Blackburn at 15. I didn’t play an awful lot of games, I was quickly too good for the Under-18s and ended up in the reserves. I played a lot of reserve team football and [was on the fringes of] the first team so found myself in that sort of limbo where I was too good for the reserves and not quite good enough for the first team.

“Mason will play an awful lot of games [because] he has to stay here now because of the Brexit situation. So although I would have been doing technique sessions for two hours every morning, six days out of the week, it made me fantastically a technically gifted player but Mason will be playing games.

“Mason will be fighting for three points and will be just in that habit of ‘this is my bread and butter’.”

Treacy contrasted that with his developmental deficit of reserve team or under-23 development football in England which lacked a competitive edge and was not played at the full pelt of a League of Ireland fixture with points and bragging rights on the line.

“I got moved through the ranks quicker because I was under the manager’s nose [but] Mason will be playing games and people will be keeping an eye on him,” he said.

“The word around St Pat’s academy about Mason is that he’s spoken about very highly. There are already a couple of suitors lining up for him but Mason just needs to keep his head down, take it game by game and to try and keep a smile on his face because at the end of the day, he’s a young, young footballer and you don’t want to put too much pressure on his shoulders.

“But he has everything he needs to go on and be a professional footballer at the highest level, I’m talking way beyond the League of Ireland. I’m talking anywhere in Europe.”

Watch the UEFA Under-17 European Championships with RTÉ Sport. Republic of Ireland v Poland on Wednesday (3.30pm, RTÉ News Channel), Republic of Ireland v Wales on Saturday (3.30pm, RTÉ News Channel) and Republic of Ireland v Hungary on Tuesday 23 May (7pm RTÉ News Channel)