Galway teen makes Man City debut

A FORMER underage star with Mervue United who is now rated as one of the country’s hottest young footballing prospects came to global attention at the weekend when he made his senior debut for Manchester City in their televised FA Cup clash with Scunthorpe.

Greg Cunningham, who turns 19 at the end of the month, has long been tipped as a star of the future, and he took the next step in what is sure to be a very promising career when he came on at half-time to replace the injured Nigel de Jong at left-back in City’s 4-2 win.

Cunningham was promoted to the first team squad in December after an impressive season with the club’s reserves, and he caught the eye in a 3-3 draw with Liverpool’s reserves in Anfield last Thursday. With manager Roberto Mancini having one eye on tomorrow’s Carling Cup semi-final second-leg clash with bitter rivals Manchester United, he made eight changes to his side for Sunday’s game; and once de Jong flagged that he was struggling, Cunningham got the nod.

Cunningham wasn’t the only young player given his wings on the day by Mancini, as another 18 year old, Abdisalam Ibrahim, was also given his debut in the game, and Boyata (19) made up a trio of teens in the City side.

The former Mervue United player – who started life as a striker, only to be converted into a defender by City – was unlucky to pick up a harsh booking within three minutes of his introduction, but he grew in confidence as the half wore on; so much so that Sylvinho was given greater freedom to attack down the left as Cunningham gave ample defensive cover.

“I am absolutely delighted for him. As both the Mayor of Galway City, and someone so heavily involved with Mervue United, I have to say it was one of the proudest days of my life when he came on on Sunday,” said Declan McDonnell, one of the founding members of Mervue United FC.

“I am not a bit surprised at how well Greg has done as we always knew he was a bit special. He is a fabulous young fella, he has a great attitude, and he is an example to young people everywhere. It says a lot about him that he is at one of the richest club’s in the world, where they can buy any player, and here is a young fella from Galway coming through their academy to play in the FA Cup,” said McDonnell.

Cunningham started out his footballing life with Cregmore before moving to Mervue United at U-13 level, and was part of the SFAI Goodson Cup winning team the following year in 2006, scoring the only goal in the final against Crumlin Utd.

That squad also captured a record five cups that season under the management of Jarlath Connolly, Dave Mulally and Jimmy Howley, and McDonnell paid tribute to Mervue’s various coaches yesterday for their role in Cunningham’s development.

“He is doing great there and training with the likes of Lescott, Bellamy, Shay Given and Robinho will stand to him, but a lot of credit too should go to the likes of Dave Mulally, Justin Neary and Bart Barrett. When he is at home in the summer he usually goes out training with Bart just to keep his fitness levels up, and that shows his dedication, his determination and his attitude.

“One other thing he insisted on when joining City was that he would be able to continue his education – at the time, Newcastle United and Celtic were also very interested in him, but he liked the underage set-up at City and the fact he could continue his education there,” McDonnell said.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him, he is a credit to himself and to his parents Billy and Linda, and his brothers Dan, who is his twin, and Stephen, who both play with Mervue,” McDonnell said.

Mancini may not be long in the manager’s role, having replaced Mark Hughes, but he clearly sees the potential of Cunningham and has handed him a new two year contract at the club - his original contract was to expire in the Summer.

l Another city starlet, Daryl Horgan os St Enda’s College, has been named in the FAI Schools U-18 squad that will play its Australian counterparts in a friendly in Dublin on Thursday. He is one of two Galway players in the 20-man squad, the other being Billy Lane of Presentaiton College Athenry.