When does ones talent become obvious?

[Young Gael]

For me it's the kids who have not just developed their skills but awareness also and have grasped the concept of team play. You'll have some more skilled kids calling for the ball at every turn, whether they're marked or not, but you'll also have some pointing out the free man. Kids with 'enhanced skill' will stand out and can win games but as a few said everyone else will catch up. At that point the boys with awareness and vision come to the fore. And there's another element, the will not to give up even if you're being hammered.

[cogito]

It really is impossible to tell and so much comes down to attitude of the individual.

At 16, Football is everything to a lot of young players. It's all they think about and while still living at home getting a lift to training or a game of their mammy after school is a great release for them.

The problem is when they hit the minor age group and all of a sudden they are off in college and doing and seeing other things. Not all, but for a good few football slips right down the pecking order. For a start most lads are not living at home anymore so the bond and affiliation they had with their home club starts to dwindle - as they could be in uni an hour or two away from home. That can make football feel like a chore and they try to get away with coming home to train as little as possible.

That effect is further driven home when they reach the u21 age group where in most county's their domestic competition is left till the end of the year, played in poor weather and truth be told last in the pecking order behind SFC, IFC, JFC and MFC. The lads who automatically make the senior team tend to stick with others but others fall away. I know in my own club at that age group we have lost a lot of players in the last 5-10 years.

There is also the reality by at that stage lads are out working and earning their own way in life. Travelling from Dublin, Athlone, Galway or Sligo becomes an expense some simply cannot afford anymore and skipping work is simply not an option for some either.

Those circumstances can greatly reduce a lad's chance of kicking on and making it.

We forget that all our young players have to juggle studies, work etc with trying to maximise their abilities on a football field. Only saw this article yesterday which I found very interesting. If you are a young budding soccer player and tied to a professional contract to help you progress then you really only have yourself to blame for not making - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/jun/02/daniel-taylor-michael-johnson