Footballers with potential but never quite made it

[oakleaf stateside]

dan doona kerry. wat a glass act.prob wud make it if he was at home

[Puckoon]

2-4 against wexford but never really bothered me hole much about it after!

You were some man for one man alright  . Good man for the pints in castle street too!

[David McKeown]

Somewhat surprised the The Armagh city folk on the thread have yet to mention Barry Boylan.

More of a soccer player, with multiple urban myths surrounding buckfast & trials with Celtic etc... however in the Minor County Final of '99, playing for the Ogs (inc. Ronan Clarke, Paul Duffy, Andy Mallon et al.) - Barry ran the show, an incredible performance, he was unplayable!

Clarke must have been what 15 then?  Remember being at that match and thinking him and Boylan should be in the senior squad, didnt know Ronan's age at the time

[heffo]

dan doona kerry. wat a glass act.prob wud make it if he was at home

Married/living with an American girl now with a kid too - class player.

[oakleaf stateside]

dan doona kerry. wat a glass act.prob wud make it if he was at home

Married/living with an American girl now with a kid too - class player.

i no all about him lol it took som1 to pull him into line lol

[Goats Do Shave]

Somewhat surprised the The Armagh city folk on the thread have yet to mention Barry Boylan.

More of a soccer player, with multiple urban myths surrounding buckfast & trials with Celtic etc... however in the Minor County Final of '99, playing for the Ogs (inc. Ronan Clarke, Paul Duffy, Andy Mallon et al.) - Barry ran the show, an incredible performance, he was unplayable!

Clarke must have been what 15 then?  Remember being at that match and thinking him and Boylan should be in the senior squad, didnt know Ronan's age at the time

I'm not sure of his birthday, but he would've been 5th year in school, probably 16.

[DoireGael]

I hope we're not adding Charlie Vernon to this list in a few years.

Remember seeing him for minors at CHB I think, looked like he was gonna be unstoppable.

Even for Queens a few years ago. This is the year for Charlie to finally come good.

Hows this looking?

[nrico2006]

What about Gavin McGeehan of Ballinderry, what kind of form is he in these days.  He seemed to be destined for big things a few years ago, or did he just stand out at under-age because he was that bit bigger and stronger?

[fitzroyalty]

Belfastitus?

How many clubs lose players to the student lifestyle?

We had a promising player, played McRory for 2/3 years, county minors etc, went to Belfast for 3 years and is now the size of a cow and twice as slow!

[Naomh Pol CLG]

Joe Ireland...remember watching him at McRory cup level and thinking that he was going to be a superstar.. Doesn't seem like he is going to do too much !

[oakleafgael]

What about Gavin McGeehan of Ballinderry, what kind of form is he in these days.  He seemed to be destined for big things a few years ago, or did he just stand out at under-age because he was that bit bigger and stronger?

Was breaking into the Ballinderry Senior team when he got a bad injury, it may have been a broken jaw. Havent heard much of him since.

[PAULD123]

Wee James's older brother Brian McCartan was a superb schools footballer, looked like he was going to be a star, but got injured and never came back. That's not quite the same thing as the subject of the thread as it was injury not just failure to fulfill potential that stopped him making it.

But one player who really frustrated me was Michael Walsh. He was in the same Mayobridge kids team as Benny Coulter. Mayobridge started building that team at u-10s. Back then Walsh was the absolute star, Benny was seen (even then) as having all the talent he needed to go to eventually go to the top of the game, but Walsh was seen as the future star of the team. He went on to win the 1999 minor All-Ireland same year as Coulter, Sexton & Grant from that same u-10 group. But that was the end of him really, never made the grade at senior level and its hard to tell why. Such a pity, anyone who saw him at underage levels would have thought he would be the sort of player that Benny has gone on to be.

[Stevie g 8]

raymond mulgrew was a great minor but never seemed to make a great impact at senior

[new devil]

I totally agree wee sonny

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

billy sheehan........................................