Kevin’s Boys Club in Dublin has nurtured stars like Liam Brady, Damien Duff and Ian Harte for the national team… Now, Brighton’s teenage striker Evan Ferguson is being compared to Wayne Rooney

• Ferguson, 18, is enjoying a breakthrough season in the Premier League
• He is just the latest on a long conveyor belt of talent to emerge from St Kevin’s
• football club in north Dublin has seen several players reach the top level  
• Early Harry Potter films come to mind when discussing Evan Ferguson with Dublin’s locals but it’s Game of Thrones that Ireland’s coaches would prefer to speak about.
• The 18-year-old Brighton forward might be the poster boy revered by all in the profession but is just one heir to the throne in a class of young players full of ‘fire and ice’, according to boss Stephen Kenny.
• Dreaming of a golden generation has long felt as far-fetched as the aforementioned science-fiction hits but, as Ireland launched their Euro 2024 quest, Kenny’s Kids promised to create a magical true story. After going toe to toe with France, why not believe?
• Hosting Didier Deschamps’ World Cup runners-up on Monday came two years to the day after Ireland’s lowest ebb in recent memory, a home defeat to lowly Luxembourg after a bruising loss in Serbia which all but ended World Cup hopes after two qualifying games.
• Kenny vowed before the visit of Kylian Mbappe and Co to fight with ‘fire and ice’ rather than ‘accepting a slow death’, referring to their feeble Qatar qualification quest. And although their first battle ended in defeat to France, the future is bright for the valiant Boys In Green.
• Much of that is thanks to the hard-working coaches and volunteers at St Kevin’s Football Club in north Dublin, Ireland’s talent factory which has produced more than 450 caps’ worth of stars including Liam Brady, Damien Duff, Ian Harte, Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Stephen Carr, Alan Maybury, Jack Byrne, Dara O’Shea and now it’s Fergie time.
• Noting the club’s lack of funding, it is staggering to see its success. The walls at the clubhouse are decorated with pictures and director of football Ken Donohoe brims with pride as he points out well-known faces as youngsters on a tour of the building.
• One snap shows former Chelsea star Duff, who won 100 Ireland caps, posing with old team-mate Nicky Byrne, who did not make it as a footballer but instead as a pop singer with Westlife.
• ‘Some players you know will make it from when they are knee high,’ says Donohoe, who has been football director since  2000 at St Kevin’s, which is a not-for-profit football club which invests any monies from the bottom upwards.

 

• ‘Ireland produces players not because of the system but despite it. The most important thing is to keep their feet on the ground.
• ‘With good players, especially those you think have a chance, it’s 60 per cent ability but the rest is mentality, behaviour, application. The worst thing is the parents. A lot of parents think their son has nailed it early on… they end up stopping playing by 18.
• ‘All those who have made it have had sound parental advice, worked hard and learned to live with setbacks and pressure when they are no longer the big fish.’
• The latest prodigy is Ferguson, who joined St Kevin’s aged five. Ferguson’s age group at the football club included fellow Brighton youngster Jamie Mullins, Sean Grehan of Crystal Palace, David Okagbue at Stoke, Cian Kelly at Derby and Fiachra Pagel at Forest Green.
• ‘They learned how to win things from an early age,’ says Donohoe.
• ‘Evan was always a big lad for his age, certainly from 11 or 12. Technically he was always ahead of his level. He’s been classified as a striker but he can play all over – he’s just happened to grasp a chance as a No 9. When he was here he dropped deep.
• ‘With the way he is progressing, there is no limit to what he can achieve. Things are going well for him, he’s taken his break and scored goals at 18 but there will be a dip or a tough time. I know he can handle that. It would be great if he could stay at Brighton. For his own development, he must stay there.
• ‘It’s always such a proud moment for the club (seeing alumni play for Ireland) but we want to provide football for as many people as we can and be happy to see them go through the ranks. To see people make a career out of it is so nice to see.’
• There is an individual plaque at the clubhouse for each senior capped player and Donohoe has made space for another amid Ferguson’s rise. But Ireland’s next generation is not limited to the striker being compared to Wayne Rooney.
• ‘Ireland is overachieving with player production at the moment. The infrastructure still needs a lot of investment but thanks to exceptional coaching, volunteers’ commitment and the emergence of some raw talents, the underage teams are excelling,’ explains Ronan Calvert of the Kenny’s Kids website.
• Caoimhin Kelleher and Gavin Bazunu are solid keeper choices, whereas Nathan Collins, Andrew Omobamidele are highly rated and Andrew Moran is tipped to be the next one off Brighton’s lengthy production line. Also watch out for James McManus, 17, of Bohemians and formerly St Kevin’s.
• Newbies at youth level, Crewe’s lanky defender Connor O’Riordan and Sam Curtis of St Patrick’s Athletic, are also tipped highly by Irish football experts, as is Inter Milan winger Kevin Zefi, 18.
• Calvert adds on Ferguson: ‘While there is a need to be cautious amid the hype, senior football is going exactly to plan for him so far. He seems to have all the attributes you’d want in a modern striker with good control, strong link up play, pace, strength and more.
• ‘Brighton looks like the perfect place for him to develop. Maybe most important is the fact that he seems to have a really mature head on his shoulders and has good people around him.’