Declan Devine has called for the establishment of an Under-21 or reserve league - to help bridge the gap between the Under-19 and senior set-ups.
And, reacting to the performance of the Ireland Under-17s in qualifying for the quarter-finals of the European Championships, he pleaded for investment to help fund academies across the country.
Devine spent some time between his two spells as Derry City manager working as an elite performance coach with the Irish Football Association. So the Bohemians boss knows a thing or two about youth development.
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Asked if there should be an Under-21 league in Ireland, he replied: “I do. I think there should be a type of reserve or league for people that have outgrown the 19s or who are not getting tested enough in the 19s.
“The gap from the Under-19 league, in my opinion, to playing for Bohs is still a big one. We’ve had Cian Byrne from last year’s successful Under-19s team who has had to go out and get experience at Longford this year and is doing really well.
“But he still needed to take that next step. What can we do to make that next step more of a clear pathway?
“I think on a Saturday afternoon after Friday night’s game… eight or nine players are sitting on the bench on a Friday and they should be involved in a game on Saturday lunchtime within the region, so that it is going to cost minimal money but is going to give a higher level of game.
“(Shamrock) Rovers have 10 or 11 players who will not play (tonight), we have eight or nine players who will not play.
“Surely somewhere along the line there should be a game for them to test themselves or keep themselves ready to come up.
“Then fill in that team with young players. That has to be something that we have to look at.”
Four young Bohemians players are in Colin O’Brien’s squad in Hungary, where they face Spain in tomorrow evening’s quarter-final - goalkeeper Joe Collins, midfielders Danny McGrath and Taylor Mooney, and forward Nickson Oksoun.
“I watch a lot of our U19s and they are four talented lads,” said Devine.
“Danny McGrath has got lots of talent, Nickson and Taylor have been in with us and may be involved in the first team in the next few weeks.
“I am delighted for them and it's testimony to the group that the academy is doing that we have four players in the squad.”
However, Devine says investment is key to sustained top-level player development.
Ireland’s progress has both highlighted the stellar work done at academy level and the fact that it is done on a shoestring budget, with few full-time coaches employed at underage level.
“For me, the investment has to come, it has to come if we are going to produce players for our international set-up and to take the game to another level, investment just has to come,” said Devine.
“I was elite performance coach (with the IFA). It was taking players from 13 to 21 and exposing them to high-intensity, high-level games.
“We travelled all around Europe, exposing them to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool… we were constantly on the road trying to test them, best v best.
“We had great success in terms of when we first went into the role, a lot of clubs based in League Two and League One were taking a lot of players from the north.
It exposed these players to the bigger clubs that were looking in and seeing, right, there is talent over here that when it’s working and they are getting tested, that we can tap into.”
Asked from where the investment into the IFA’s underage system came, Devine replied: “It came from the Assembly.
“The IFA had just qualified for the Euros, which helped.
“But there were a lot of high-profile people there - Stephen Robinson, David Healy, myself, Jim Magilton…
“There were a lot of high-profile people that had been around the game for a long time who were working with the best players and getting the message across.
“But it also came down to a lot of buy-in from affiliate clubs and boys’ clubs, and trust that we weren’t stealing players, that it was about everybody pulling in the one direction to try and develop and having the best young players training against their fellow best players.
“It allowed training to go up to a different level.”
Are we at a level here where the best young players are coming up regularly against the best?
“I don’t see the best v the best all the time, to be honest,” said Devine.
“I think there are big gaps, there are games that are a lot easier than other games.
“But as I said earlier, if those four kids away with the 17s at the minute, if they were exposed to playing with Keith Buckley this Saturday, because he’s suspended for Friday night, if he is playing in a team against, say, Shelbourne’s Under-21s on Saturday, that would benefit more than an Under-19s game where it’s relatively easy for them.”
Bohs face north Dublin rivals Shelbourne this evening - and Devine had lots of praise for Damien Duff’s side.
“They are fantastically well set-up,” he said. “They are working extremely hard for their manager, staff and club.
“We have no doubt - we spoke about it all week - that this is a difficult game for us.
“It's a Dublin derby, a game where they have already turned us over and we have to try and get them points back.
“The circumstances in the last game, Dylan Connolly's sending off, was a huge turning point.
“But we are better now than we were then, a bit further on in the journey.
“Kris Twardek has come back into the squad really strong, Declan McDaid has been good coming off the bench in recent weeks, we have players here that I am looking forward to performing on Friday night.”
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