Latest news with #MasonMelia
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Shelbourne director warns funding needed ‘if we want another Italia 90' & says Mason Melia ‘example of what can be done'
SHELBOURNE academy director Colm Barron looks at the success of Mason Melia and imagines what more could be achieved. Melia, 17, will move to 5 Shelbourne academy director Colm Barron Credit: RTE 5 Mason Melia, bound for Tottenham Hotspur, celebrates after scoring a goal for St Patrick's Athletic Credit: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile 5 25 April 2025; Victor Ozhianvuna has been linked with Arsenal Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile 5 Cathal O'Sullivan has been linked with Brentford Credit: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile He is one of a number of emerging teenage talents coming through the League of Ireland . star with the Premier Division leaders. next million-euro export In the eyes of Colm Barron, this quartet - among other - is an example of what can be done with the kind of support that is currently lacking. Read More on Shelbourne The Shelbourne academy director told SunSport: "I think that shows the evidence that the National League underage is working. "My point would be, can you imagine what we could do, or potentially could do, if we were able to get 16-17-year-olds into full-time football within our own country, while also supporting them? "I think what's happened over the last few years with the likes of Mason, etc., and plenty of other good young players coming through, has been brilliant. "But what happens when he's 22-23 will really determine whether it's been a success or not for him, so I wouldn't get carried away with that. Most read in Football "There was "I wouldn't say they're coming through despite the system; it's probably a good realisation with regards to the good work that's being done at clubs." RTE pundit's one-liner about Damien Duff makes Joey O'Brien laugh after Shelbourne's win vs Linfield Barron is no stranger to the kind of funding and resource support required by the Back in April, LOI Academy Development Manager Will Clarke He outlined how there were just nine players between the ages of 16 and 19 in a full-time environment in Ireland, in addition to "a handful" abroad. Clarke revealed how, to have success at international level, we need 35 players playing in the top five leagues in The impact of Barron said: "Everything is privately funded by the clubs, so whether that's through investment from the owners - they do the best that they possibly can to support the academy system. "With Brexit and the changes that have happened in the game in regards to young players going to the UK, there's a massive emphasis now on the National League clubs especially to be developing these players. "The infrastructure just isn't there to support them, to give them the best opportunity, and while clubs like ourselves and other League of Ireland clubs are doing their best to fight the system, having that infrastructure around players to be able to hire more staff, player care, sports psychology , all those elements need to be there to develop elite level athletes. "If that's what our ambition is in this country , which it needs to be because we all want spring back days of USA 94, Italia 90, then there needs to be a major support put in through the government or through the FAI and that's just not there at the moment. GLASS CEILING "The level of the ceiling from a football perspective is probably getting close to being reached if the funding around it doesn't change. "There's no club in this country who has a full time academy system for 16-18 year old players. "If that was to change as a starting point, the League of Ireland product would just go through the roof. "The improvement of players would also go through the roof, and then we start to get closer to breaching the gap between ourselves and other European countries." "Can you imagine what we could do, or potentially could do, if we were able to get 16-17-year-olds into full-time football within our own country, while also supporting them?" Colm Barron Barron hopes to demonstrate the work being done in a hand-cuffed system through the upcoming documentary Football Families . The new series, which airs on next Thursday night at 10:10pm, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings at Tolka Park. It was filmed in 2024 at a time when And Barron hopes it will expose the public to the sacrifices involved in a football club, and expose rising stars to the kind of scrutiny they can expect in the professional game. "The thought process for us when we were approached for that was for two reasons. "To shine a light on the good work that's being done in academies at the moment through an under-resourced system in regards to support, funding and infrastructure from the government and the FAI. "And then the second thing was for players to potentially receive an opportunity for something that they might experience in the future with regards to cameras being around. "It's good for them to be exposed to them things and to handle that side of the game. "Young people's lives are lived out through social media , the majority of them. "It's become more and more common that players have agents at younger ages. People are probably starting to lose the run on themselves a little bit with regards to that. "We see the glitz and glamour of Sky Sports and footballers believe that, 'oh yeah, that's me' or 'that's what I want to be'. "They don't see the hardship, the setbacks, the discipline, the sacrifice that it takes to do that. "Education around that is huge. The support network around that is something again that needs to be invested in. "Players need to be cared for around all aspects, not just what they do on the pitch. "To do that you have to have resources, you have to have time, you have to have money to do that." 5 Shamrock Rovers star Michael Noonan Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Extra.ie
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Mason Melia shows his class as Saints march on
Mason Melia showed why Tottenham Hotspur shelled out €2million for him in January as the talented teenager guided St Pat's into the next qualifying round for the Conference League in Lithuania on Thursday. The 17-year-old scored the first goal and created the second for Kian Leavy as the Saints made amends for their wastefulness in last week's 1-0 win at Richmond Park. Pat's boss Stephen Kenny was critical of the rough treatment that Melia received from Hegelmann in the first leg, but it didn't seem to matter to the gifted attacker in Lithuania as he turned on the style in front of the 200 Saints supporters who made the trip to Kaunas. It was Melia who was fouled for the late penalty in Inchicore that Aidan Keena dispatched and it was Melia who eased any nerves among Pat's players as he poked the ball into the net for his first European goal after only six minutes with a lovely poacher's finish after Jay McCelland's initial shot had been parried by the home goalkeeper Vincentas Sarkauskas. Just as they did in the first leg, Pat's dominated possession with their goalkeeper Joseph Anang having a pretty quiet night. Hegelmann's Brazilian playmaker Léo Ribeiro fired a warning early in the second half by unleashing a rasping shot towards Anang's goal, but chances were few and far between for the home side and Melia engineered the goal that put the tie beyond doubt 10 minutes into the second-half. Mason Melia showed why Tottenham Hotspur shelled out €2million for him in January. Pic: Evaldas Semiotas/Sportsfile Picking up the ball on the halfway line, Melia drove at the defence and turned Serbian Nikola Doric inside out before releasing the overlapping Leavy with a subtle pass. Leavy took one touch before rifling the ball above Sarkauskas and into the roof of the net. The goal ensured that the Saints could start planning for the next round of European competition, with the first leg against Albanian or Estonian opposition in Inchicore next Thursday. It also meant that the club are guaranteed €700,000 in UEFA prize money but that could rise to €1.7 million if they manage to negotiate the next hurdle. Despite the plastic pitch and the number of different nationalities on the Lithuanian side, this always felt like a comfortable and routine evening for Kenny's team, who are starting to find the net again. And with Melia in their ranks until he turns 18, they will fancy their chances of going on a journey through the Conference League, perhaps all the way to the group stages. Indeed, all three League of Ireland clubs – Shelbourne, St Pat's and Shamrock Rovers, who have yet to begin their campaign – making it through to the Conference League groups is now a distinct possibility. That will be a real sign of the growing strength of the game here. But for now, Pat's are just grateful they have Melia until next January and it looks like Spurs have made a smart investment.
Irish Times
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Mason Melia proves too hot to handle as St Patrick's Athletic see off Hegelmann in Lithuania
Uefa Conference League first round, second leg: Hegelmann 0 St Patrick's Athletic 2 [Melia 6, Leavy 56] [St Pats win 3-0 on aggregate] St Patrick's Athletic stormed into the second round of the Uefa Conference League with goals from their academy graduates Mason Melia and Kian Leavy in Lithuania on Thursday. Tottenham Hotspur were so impressed by the performance of a 16-year-old against European defenders last summer that they paid St Pats an upfront fee of €1.9 million, with add-ons expected to tip that figure over €4 million as Melia's career continues to accelerate. Now 17, the Wicklow native settled this first-round qualifier with an early goal. But it was his run to create Leavy's top-corner finish in the 56th minute that reinforces Spurs' decision. Melia is beginning to outgrow this level. Just ask Nikola Djoric, who he turned inside-out before accelerating away from the Hegelmann centre half. As two more defenders closed in, a weighted pass allowed Leavy to settle and make it 3-0 on aggregate. READ MORE There was another half-hour to play when Melia had a legitimate penalty shout waved away by Danish referee Mads Kristoffersen, after he weaved past two players only to be knocked over by Vilius Armalas. As studs began to show on the artificial surface, Stephen Kenny replaced his young striker with Aidan Keena. Melia – who moves to London in January – scored his first European goal after five minutes to put Hegelmann 2-0 behind on aggregate. Vincentas Sarkauskas could only glove James McClelland's effort towards the teenager who reacted quickest to confirm St Pats' superiority over a multinational Lithuanian squad. Kian Leavy celebrates scoring St Patrick's Athletic's second goal. Photograph: Aleksandar Djorovic/Inpho Kenny marked out midfielder Lazar Kojic as a threat beforehand, but the Serbian's frustration with Jamie Lennon's insatiable energy earned him a yellow card before half-time. St Pats play the winner of Partizani (Albania) and Kalju (Estonia) in round two with the first leg at Richmond Park next Thursday. The dream scenario is beginning to take shape; St Pats, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne could all qualify for the Conference League group stages this season. Rovers' campaign begins next week, away to Cliftonville (Northern Ireland) or St Joseph's (Gibraltar) as Shelbourne welcome Qarabag of Azerbaijan to Tolka Park on Wednesday in the Champions League second round. If Qarabag beat Shels over two legs, Joey O'Brien's men will still have a seeded route into the Conference League. The FAI have managed to get out all three clubs way, by not scheduling any of their Premier Division fixtures until August. St Pats do have an FAI Cup second-round tie at home to UCC on Sunday, when Kenny is expected to rotate his squad. HEGELMANN: Sarkauskas; Upstas, Armalas, Doric, Duke; Kojic, Antanavicius (Harouna, 70); Kazlauskas (Kausinis, 70), Ribeiro (Azouazi, 84), Shchedryi; Njoya Abdel. ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Anang; McLaughlin, Grivosti, Redmond, McClelland (Forrester, 79); Leavy (Kazeem, 88), Lennon, Baggley; Power (Breslin, 79), Melia (Keena, 72), Mulraney (Elbouzedi, 46). Referee: Mads Kristoffersen (Denmark).
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Stephen Kenny on Mason Melia: ‘Some players are taking turns to have a go at him'
Stephen Kenny believes that some League of Ireland players are 'taking turns' to foul Mason Melia . The St Patrick's Athletic manager expressed concern about the physical attention his 17-year-old striker is receiving this season, following Thursday's 1-0 defeat of Lithuanian side Hegelmann at Richmond Park in the Uefa Conference League first round qualifier. 'He keeps coming back,' said Kenny. 'I asked the fourth official, [after] the centre half fouled him four times and didn't get a yellow card – he came through the back of him. [The fourth official] said they weren't leading to goal scoring opportunities and things like that. 'It was 'persistent fouling' so I think [Melia] shipped a bit of treatment all right. He comes back, he doesn't hide. He knows he missed chances, but he keeps getting in the box again and he missed a couple more, and ultimately he gets taken down for the penalty.' READ MORE Melia missed three gilt-edged chances before Aidan Keena scored a late penalty to give St Pat's the advantage ahead of Thursday's second-leg in Lithuania. Kenny noted that several St Pat's players wasted chances to score a second goal by 'snatching' at shots before the former Republic of Ireland manager returned to the attention Melia is receiving from defenders ahead of his €1.9 million move to Tottenham Hotspur in January. 'Mason has been getting a lot of treatment, even in the domestic games, I feel,' said Kenny. 'You know, he's been getting extra, you know, extra. 'In some games some players are actually taking turns having a go at him, rather than one player. I felt that a couple of times. So we do have to protect him. We haven't played him in all the games. We didn't play him in the Bohs game last week. We took him out. 'You know, he's young and we can't just play him relentlessly. So we've had to manage him a bit. But he is an outstanding talent and he did really well tonight. Didn't finish, but he kept going. And he was involved in the penalty, so we'll take that.'
Irish Independent
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
St Patrick's Athletic v FC Hegelmann: Aidan Keena's late penalty gives Saints the edge
Full-time: St Pat's 1-0 Hegelmann It's advantage St Pat's as courtesy of Aidan Keena's 81st-minute penalty, Stephen Kenny's men take a one-goal lead to Lithuania for next Thursday's second-leg. It was no more than the Saints deserved after a dominant display, and the only regret will be that they had the chances to score a couple of more. Keena's strike, his seventh of the season, was his side's first goal in almost seven hours of football, with Jason McClelland and Mason Melia also going close in the first half. Hegelmann did threaten twice on the counter, but were really below par this evening and St Pat's will be fully confident that they can get the job done next week, progress to the second round and bank €700,000 in the process. We'll have Aidan Fitzmaurice's match report live from Richmond Park here on the site for you shortly, as well more reaction from the Saints camp after they kicked off their European campaign with a win. 14 minutes ago 90'+5 Mason Melia has taken his fair share of hits tonight and needs treatment here in the final seconds. The 17-year-old has put in a fine shift leading the line. 90'+3 90'+2 One final chance for St Pat's here as Popescu clearly handballs just outside the box. Barry Baggley steps up to take it. 90'+1 Four minutes added time 88' It looked like it was going to be another one of those nights for Stephen Kenny's men but Aidan Keena's late penalty has totally changed the complexion of this tie now, and they'll fancy their chances of doubling their lead in the final few minutes. 86' What an impact from substitute Keena who scores the opener just eight minutes after coming off the bench. The 26-year-old didn't score in Europe last year, and that's his first European goal in three years - his winner for Sligo Rovers away to Motherwell in the Conference League second round. 83' Goal Scorer Aidan Keena Aidan Keena puts St Pat's in front from the penalty spot! The Westmeath man buries it into the bottom corner for his seventh of the season. That's St Pat's second goal in seven games but they are full value for it. Richmond Park is bouncing! 80' Penalty to St Pat's!! Mason Melia does brilliantly to take the ball out of the sky. He looks to be fouled but the ball then falls to Barry Baggley who is taken down from behind. The referee pointed straight to the spot and Aidan Keena has the ball in his hands. 77' Like Joey O'Brien's triple change for Shelbourne last night moments before Mipo Odubeko's goal, Stephen Kenny will be hoping his own pays dividends here as the Saints search for the opener. It's a good start by Aidan Keena who tries his luck and wins a corner in the process. Mason Melia connects with the resulting cross but the goalkeeper is equal to it as we approach the final 10 minutes. 75' 74' Handball shout! Huge appeals for a penalty from the home support as a Hegelmann defender Nikola Djoric clearly handles the ball on the ground inside the box. But a penalty wasn't to be as the Belgian referee deemed that Mason Melia fouled Djoric first. 71' Chance for St Pat's! Another agonizing moment for the hosts as a fabulous Brandon Kavanagh pass puts Barry Baggley through. His shot is blocked but the ball drops to Mason Melia yards from goal, but the teenager blazes his shot over the bar. Will this be another one of those nights for Stephen Kenny's men? 67' Jake Mulraney steps up to a free kick after yet another Hegelmann foul, but his effort is easily gathered by Vincentas Sarkauskas. The pressure around Inchicore is rising with every minute that passes.
