Ireland star recalls rejection at schoolboy level and delivers crucial message to underage coaches
A visit from Damien Duff was also detailed by Ireland midfielder Andrew Moran.
Andrew Moran was handed a senior Ireland call-up by Heimir Hallgrímsson on Thursday - but the midfielder once thought about giving up football because he was being snubbed for being too small.
Moran has opened up about his struggles at schoolboy level, where there was a tendency to pick bigger players in his place.
The 21-year-old Brighton prospect, currently on-loan at Stoke City, even fell out of love with the game.
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However, other coaches recognised his talent and the former Knocklyon United, Crumlin United, St Joseph’s Boys and Bray Wanderers youngster earned his move to England in 2020.
Speaking to the Potters’ Pod, Moran, who won his first senior cap last November against New Zealand, had a message for any schoolboy coach that put results before development.
He said: “I think at that age I think a lot of people and managers can take football too seriously and be really worried about winning at under-12s. So the smaller lads will just get cast aside a little bit.
“You could probably say that happened to me a little bit. It’s something I’ve spoken to about with people.
“I’m lucky that I got somewhere and managers at that age kind of brought my love back for football, because that’s what lost it for me, because I was losing my place in teams to bigger lads.”
He reckons his size ultimately worked to his advantage - by sharpening his technical skills.
“To be honest, I think it helps you being that small, because you have to be so much better than everyone else to just kind of be even,” he said.
“It teaches you. I’m never going to be one of the biggest lads on the pitch, so I need to play where I can… if I am finding myself in a duel, I’ve done something wrong, so I need to make it so people can’t even get close enough to me to push me off the ball.
“At that age, if you can develop stuff like that, all the technical stuff that helps you stay out of stuff like that, I think it makes you better in the long run.
“There are so many players that you have seen that were small as a kid and it’s probably helped them. Eventually it all evens out. Everyone grows at different rates.”
Moran, meanwhile, recalled how a visit to his house by Damien Duff sent his mum into a cleaning frenzy!
“He was the Shamrock Rovers Under-15s manager at the time. He came around to my house and at that age Rovers were the best team in our age group - Rovers and Pat’s. Pat’s might have been a little bit better,” said Moran.
“He tried to sign me mid-season and to be fair I did have to think about it, because it was quite big at the time.
“But eventually I came to the decision that all the lads at Joeys, they had given me so much that I didn’t want to leave at that time. It wasn’t the right time.”
Moran added: “My mam started cleaning the house when she heard I was coming over. She started cleaning the house, laying out biscuits and everything for him. I think she might have fancied him!
“At that age I was a bit star-struck. I grew up watching him on the telly on Match of the Day, Chelsea, Fulham and all.
“Then to have him sat (in the living room), telling me how I was going to fit into his team, and I was 13 or 14, I was like, what is going on here?
“That was probably my first taste of the actual football world, how it works, transfers and possible moves.
“It was all a lot at that age. It weighed on me a lot, that did, because I took a couple of days to decide if I wanted to go or stay. It’s tough making those decisions.”
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