THE Football Association of Ireland has today confirmed that Colin O’Brien has been appointed as the new Head Coach of the Republic of Ireland U15 side. O’Brien, 38, has been assistant coach to previous head coach Niall Harrison for the past three years and has worked closely in talent identification for the national teams squads. He has also worked with the U17 international squad as opposition analyst and worked closely with the FAI’s Emerging Talent Programme. “I’m delighted to be given this role. It’s a great honour,” said former Cork City, Waterford United and Cobh Ramblers midfielder O’Brien. “This is my 14th year with the FAI in various roles. I began as a Development Officer in Cork and I’m currently working as a coach educator. For the past five seasons I’ve been working with international teams in different roles so I’m delighted to get the opportunity to be the head coach myself.” The first group of international players O’Brien worked with were the 1993 age-group, who are now at U21 level, while the current crop of U15s were born in 1999. O’Brien will be working solely with the U15 squad from now on. “It’s a great challenge. Niall Harrison did a really good job and I was fortunate to work with an excellent coach like him,” said O’Brien, who is an UEFA A licensed coach. “There is a very good framework there to work with thanks to the Emerging Talent Programme and I believe we’ve put together a good set-up to find players capable of playing at international level. “In September we had assessments and we will have 36 players in for a training camp towards the end of October. We’ll run the eye over those players and pass on our ideas on and off the pitch to them and then look towards our first international of the season. We’ll be bringing in 18 players for a game at the end of November.” O’Brien is well acquainted with the talent at his disposal having working with the Hibernia Cup squad in August and he was part of the talent identification process during the Kennedy Cup in June. “I’ve worked with the Hibernia Cup for the past couple of years. It’s a very well run competition and gives the players a great opportunity to play against different players with different styles from various countries,” he said. “My initial view is that we’ve got some skilful players in the 1999 group. I’d say that in all areas of the pitch we have some very good players - good defenders, midfielders and up the pitch it’s impressive too. “The fact that the Emerging Talent Programme is focused on the 4-3-3 system and building out from the back and through the thirds gives us some consistency. The ETP is a great opportunity for coaches to develop too and provides a great link for the international management. “We try to give our ideas to develop the players. 4-3-3 is working for us. It’s important we explore their strengths as players and see how far we can take each group. We focus on defending, attacking and transitions within that system. “It’s a step up from their clubs. Just as it’s step up to inter-league and regional level too. The higher you go the more technically challenged you will be. The speed of the game is a big difference from what they generally experience with the clubs - sometimes against European teams the pace can be slow and then quicker in different areas of pitch. That’s what they have to adjust to.” The FAI’s High Performance Director Ruud Dokter welcomed O’Brien’s appointment and is looking forward to working with the new U15s Head Coach. “We’re very happy to appoint Colin. We expect him to do a good job with the U15s. He is a highly rated coach amongst our staff,” said Dokter. “He has been involved with the team and knows the role and knows the players. I’m looking forward to working with Colin in the future. We’ll be taking the team to the Netherlands in November and I feel they will be good games for the squad.”
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 19:01:55 +0000
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