Stephen Lynch delighted to be helping London's homegrown talent develop

By Cian O’Connell

All-Ireland JFC Semi-Finals

Friday July 12

New York v Warwickshire, Abbotstown, 5pm - Sport TG4

USGAA v London, Abbotstown, 7pm - Sport TG4

Throughout the past decade in London, a significant emphasis has been placed on developing homegrown talent.

An all London born team travels to Abbottstown on Friday for an All-Ireland Junior Championship Semi-Final against USGAA. The American team, featuring players from across the US, make a welcome entrance into the competition, and will know a demanding assignment awaits.

Manager Stephen Lynch has been an instrumental figure with the London juniors in recent years, and the fact that talented players have graduated to perform for Michael Maher’s senior outfit is a source of considerable pride. “It is 100 per cent working,” Lynch says about London’s approach.

“I think in the last two years Josh Obahor, Shay Rafter, and Tighe Barry - three or four of the boys have gone on to play inter-county. So, it shows it is working.

“In one way, it weakens us because every year technically you're losing your best players to the senior. The reason it was brought in was to progress players through from junior to senior, it has worked so far.”

Several clubs are represented in the London panel too which is aiding the game too. “We've probably got seven or eight clubs represented, at the moment,” Lynch says.

“St Kiernan's, Tír Chonaill Gaels, and Parnells would be the three strongest, the majority of the squad would be coming from those three clubs, but we'd have players from four or five more clubs.

“In all fairness they are a brilliant bunch of lads to work with. They are so committed, anything we've asked them to do, they have always been there. They have given up their time and hopefully they'll get their rewards this weekend.

“They've been fantastic since our first night training. They're an unbelievable bunch of lads to work with, anything you ask them to do, they'll come back and nearly ask you for more.”

With the Semi-Finals scheduled for Friday and the decider on Sunday it will be a busy weekend, but Lynch is firmly focused on the penultimate round fixture. “We've our last training session tonight (Tuesday), hopefully we will get through that okay and then we will be ready to hit the road for Ireland in a few days time,” he says.

“It is a fantastic opportunity, if you get over Friday, Sunday will take care of itself. So, everything is about Friday about the moment.

“We came through our own championship (All-Britain), we had three group games and then you have a semi-final and a final. We had five games in that. You would have challenge games with the London senior teams and a couple of club games too.”

Lynch acknowledges that clubs approach in London has altered dramatically in recent times. “It has changed massively, really,” Lynch responds. “When I came over first you'd have such an influx of players coming over in the summer, every year.

“You'd have five, six or seven players coming into a club, but I think in maybe the last 10 years a lot of clubs have seen that the way forward is bringing through their own players from the underage.

“The amount of people coming from Ireland isn't as many as it was years ago. So, I think the way forward is bringing through your own players.”

Getting the chance to compete in the All-Ireland JFC is beneficial according to Lynch. “It is a massive help, we won the British Championship a couple of years ago, it was 1992, I think, the last time London won it,” he says.

“Once we won it once, the amount of players that have bought into it, they were looking to come on board.

“The boys that are with us, they've seen Shay, Josh, and Tighe progressing to the senior ranks, playing in front of a massive crowd against Galway this year. They can see, if they put the effort in, that opportunities are there.”