Meath teams in National League is the target

The North East Counties Schoolboys/girls League hosted a presentation evening in Navan where certificates were presented to players from the representative teams and the Emerging Talent Programme.

Guests on the night included James Conroy, Rob Sweeney (FAI), Jamie McGrath and Amanda McQuillan who were all involved in the presentations.

League chairman Peter Glynn welcomed the players and parents to the event and also former secretary and the first chairman of the NECSL Conall Collier who handed over a commemorative plaque to current NECSL secretary Eddie Higgins.

The plaque had been presented to the NECSL by the Leinster Junior League on Saturday 7th December 1991 for a first round FAI Youth Inter-League game.

That game was the first competitive outing for the newly-formed NECSL which they won by 4-0 at St Mary's, Drumcar.

The establishment of the NECSL had been formally sanctioned at the annual general meeting of the Meath Schoolboys' League in April 1991.

The lead up to the formation of the NECSL involved input from the FAI, LFA and the SFAI along with the Meath & District League.

Discussions also took place with both the Dundalk Schoolboys' League and the Drogheda Schoolboys' League and following a number of consultative meetings that culminated in Slane in December 1990, there was broad agreement to establish the NECSL for the 1991/ 1992 season.

Seven non-Meath teams affiliated to the NECSL and they included Albion Rovers, Cavan Town, Cabra Utd (Kingscourt), Carrick Rovers (Carrickmacross), Clones Town, Killann Utd (Shercock) and Oriel Celtic (Monaghan).

They were later joined by Mullingar Athletic and Longford Town.

Importantly, the number of teams affiliated to the NECCSL satisfied the criteria for a place on the SFAI Council.

However, the story of under-age football in Meath goes back to 1983 when the Meath Schoolboys' League was formed following a meeting in the Central Hotel in Navan where a committee was formed that comprised John Finnegan, John Harte, Frank Murray, Gerry Gorman, Cathal Dervan and Des Clancy.

There was slow and steady progress and the interest amongst clubs for an under-age outlet for young players eventually saw the final season for the Meath Schoolboys' League in 1990 / 1991 with the new organisation sanctioned by the the FAI and the LFA for youth football (u-17 and  u-18) and the SFAI for schoolboys.

Apart from that FAI Youth Inter League game in 1991, there was also an extra challenge for the NECSL team in July 1992 at Gortakeegan in Monaghan.

The NECSL hosted Westfalen FA (Germany) as part of a three-game tour that also included games against the Leinster Junior League and the Leinster Senior League.

The NECSL was also the first sporting organisation to actively promote drug-free sport and concluded a groundbreaking sponsorship deal with the North Eastern Health Board in 1997. The link continues.

NECSL coaching officer Paddy O'Reilly indicated that the next goal is to have teams from Meath competing in the FAI National League at under-age level and a target date of 2020 has been set.

It's a big undertaking, but we are making steady progress and that's how we will get there," he told the Meath Chronicle.

"We have eight management teams working hard at the moment, five for the boys and three for the girls.

"The age groups for the girls are changing for next season to u-11, u-13, and u-15 with a view to providing a steady stream of players into the u-17 National League and we would be aiming to compete at that level by 2020.

"We have a lot of talented players, boys and girls, in the NECSL and we have to try to provide a platform for them to develop their full potential.

"We have four quarters to the Emerging Talent Programme (ETP) locally each year and this helps with the ongoing assessment process of players.

"Coming up in mid-November we will have Meath Cup competitions that we will use as trial games, Patrick Matthews is involved with me in that.
"Clubs can enter their teams, it's a blitz-type competition and it gives everyone a chance to make an impression and there will be more trial games in January.

“The next piece of the jigsaw that has to be completed is a team from Meath in the National League for boys and girls by 2020.
"We are setting up a new ladies league that will be a major boost, it will be launched at the MDL on Tuesday 20th November and it will cater for players finishing u-16 this season.

"We expect to have about a dozen clubs as that number has already expressed an interest.

"For the National League in 2020, I think the first step will be with u-13 boys and u-17 girls, once we sustain that we can eventually try to build on it.
"We have a club established already, Royal Meath, but everyone has to be part of the process for it to be successful.

“I would like to acknowledge the assistance received from Gerry Gorman of the North East Football League on that front.

Before any of that happens, we will have St Mirren coaches back at the NECSL on Sunday 25th November and the NECSL u-15s will travel to St Mirren in December, it's all part of the development process," concluded O'Reilly.

2018 NECSL COMMITTEE

The NECSL committee for 2018 comprises - Peter Glynn, Eddie Higgins, Kieran McMahon, Paul Lynch, Noel Hand, Paddy Mulreid, Gerry Browne, Pat Matthews, Jonathan Purvis, Val Finnegan, Dave Murphy.