New documentary shines light on Irish football's rocky road

RTÉ News​

29-07-2025

Trying to make it as a professional footballer is like walking up a mountain with a sack of bricks on your back; the climb gets steeper and the sack gets heavier every time you take a forward step.
It's hard to comprehend just how difficult it is to reach the summit, but a new three-part RTÉ documentary peels back the curtain, following some aspiring stars in Shelbourne's academy as they try to navigate the road to the top.
Football Families tracks players' journeys amid the the backdrop of Damien Duff's senior side winning the 2024 SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title.
We meet Tallaght native Jayden Marshall, a left-sided centre-half who arrived from Crumlin United. When the family home was engulfed by a fire, football became a sanctuary. His dad asked the firemen to rescue one memento from the blaze: the Republic of Ireland shirt Jayden wore on his debut for the Under-15s: "You can have all the money in the world," he says, "but you can't buy one of them".
Goalkeeper Ali Topcu is shown refining his skills in his back garden. An oversized goal is erected to test his agility, with the bumpy lawn sharpening reaction times. His father quit his job as a scaffolder to fully focus on his son's career. "Now my aim is to see Ali become a superstar," he declares.
There's Cillian O'Sullivan, the diminutive and technically gifted Howth native know locally as 'the kid with the football'.
And we're introduced to remarkably mature 11-year-old Joe Adewale, who announces: "My dream is to retire my parents and make my parents proud of course. Footballers spend money recklessly, they're buying lots of designer clothes, they're getting fake teeth. Football is a big business."
Joe's older brother Derin is well placed to hand down valuable advice. Two years ago he joined Serie A club Lecce from Bohemians. The change in culture, language barrier and – crucially – an unfortunate knee injury derailed his move, and he returned to Shels Under-20s. Derin featured for the Reds in their recent FAI Cup clash with Fairview Rangers, chipping in with an assist in a 4-0 victory.
Duff, who has since departed as first-team boss, says: "The dream scenario is four, five, six academy graduates playing for the first team."
But that's a massive ask in such a competitive environment.
"It's very tough for them," says Shelbourne academy director Colm Barron.
"On one hand, they need to commit with unwavering faith that they'll make it. But at the same time, they have to confront the brutal reality that they may not."
It's well documented that Ireland is miles behind when it comes to resources in the grassroots game.
In April, the government put €1m towards an audit of League of Ireland clubs as part of longer-term plans to provide funding for academies. That audit will be completed by mid-August, but the investment can't come soon enough for those at the coal face.
"You become everything," adds Barron. "If you look at what a Category 3 UK academy club would have, you've got a head of player care, you have a head of sports psychology, you have a head of sports science, you have a head of coach education.
"We just don't have that infrastructure, so between the managers and coaches and the resources you have - and there's many of them that that are voluntary even working in the National League - without them we'd be absolutely lost.
"They go above and beyond for players, whether it's collecting them from school to get them to training, or helping out with food, fees whatever we can do to try to help players, we do that. You become stretched in that way where you nearly become everything to the players."
A new series featuring Shelbourne Football club's most promising young talent from across the country as they strive to make it as professional footballers ⚽ #FootballFamilies | Starts Thursday at 10.10pm pic.twitter.com/lEt5205wy3
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) July 28, 2025
The challenges are the same for the boys and the girls. Exciting Treaty United starlet Madison McGuane features. Her mother knew she had something special when Madison travelled to a boys tournament in Birmingham aged eight despite suffering an eye injury. She had to wear an eye patch but took it off for the games and came home with the player of the tournament trophy.
McGuane already has a plan mapped out for her future: "I'd love to get a scholarship and maybe go to America, play football over there and then go play with a WSL team."
She may well do that (McGuane is already an established midfielder in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division), but that path is getting harder all the time as the levels in the women's game rise exponentially.
"When you talk about football as an industry, it's the male and female game," adds Barron.
"Both sides are falling further and further behind. That's the reality of it. I was at a tournament about a year and a half ago in Spain where I watched Espanyol Under-14s girls play Barcelona Under-14s girls in the semi-final of a tournament. The standard was exceptional, just exceptional. The athleticism, the awareness, the speed of their play.
"What they have is the infrastructure there to go in and train properly and understand about diet, nutrition, hydration, training four nights a week, all of them things that create, hopefully, a top-level footballer. They may not have the financial backing, but the infrastructure is there to support them within it. That's massive."
It's a grind; a daily challenge that demands absolute commitment from everyone involved.
For Barron, and the many coaches like him on this island, it's a selfless job with one allure: "The passion of developing players is ultimately what drives you, you know? There's no lucrative rewards for coaches. The reward is hoping that you can help players along a pathway for them maybe to become full-time footballers, but if not, to become better people and maximise their potential, which is what we try to do."
Watch the first episode of Football Families this Thursday 31 July on RTÉ One, 10.10pm.