Excited Higgins confirms Kobe and Beirne availability as Mayo U-20 season looms

Mayo U-20 manager Keith Higgins is relishing his new role as his side are set to open their season next Wednesday evening when they face Sligo in Tubbercurry. Speaking to the media today, the former Mayo defender explained how he’s found the past few months in charge of the U-20 group who are setting out to defend their Connacht Championship.

"It's been different I suppose, it's an eye-opener really, even when you're in coaching the last couple of years, your thoughts are really just on players, planning the sessions, what you want to do, how you want to play. When you have the manager's bib on, there's pitches, there's food, there's everything that you have to have in the back of your mind that you're trying to organise. It can be easy, I suppose, to get distracted from the football in a way. It's been a huge learning curve for me, I suppose, to see everything that goes on. I'm enjoying it so far.

Higgins, who claimed Young Footballer of the Year in 2006 explains “It's been very different. This age group, it's a funny one in terms of the scheduling. You try and put your panel together in November, December and you come back in January and they're all over the place playing schools games and freshers games. It's a funny age group in that January is a very tricky month and even a bit of February.

We've seen with St Muredach’s, Gerald’s and Gortnor Abbey doing well with the schools, that those guys are still playing a lot of football. All of a sudden, it's the middle of February and you get your full panel together and you're a month out from the Championship. It actually flies by in a way. There's lots to go on but, fingers crossed, we've enjoyed it so far and we'll keep going that way.”

The Ballyhaunis native concluded  by confirming the availability of young players who have featured at Senior level in recent weeks. 

“The plan at the moment is that Darragh (Beirne) and Kobe (McDonald) would be available for all the Under-20 games. When I got this job and when Andy was in with the seniors, it was kind of seeing some of the personnel he had on his squad. It was something that was approached very early. And we knew it would be kind of discussed on a week-by-week basis, whether guys were playing in the national league or whether they'd be training with us. So I'd be chatting to Andy every few days about this type of thing, kind of what the training plan is, what the training load is for certain guys.”

Mayo U-20's kick off their Connacht campaign in Tubbercurry next Wednesday with a throw-in time set for 5.15pm. Former Mayo players Kevin McLoughlin and David Drake are part of Higgins' management team as is Kilmeena native Mark Ryan.

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