By Gary Hunt
Following on from a successful period under the guidance of Mike Geoghegan the Academy is now set to enter a new era as funding for full time employment through Sport Ireland & the FAI will come into play in the coming weeks. Mike and Sean have led the Blues Academy for many years and have put in some really impressive structures as the Academy has grown from 3 teams to now boasting 6 teams and a thriving pre-academy for boys alongside a girls pre-academy that is in its infancy. A seventh side will come into play next season when the girls U15 season joins the academy program.
So far in pre-season we have seen our MU20 side compete in the Munster Senior Cup, reaching the semi final stage after knocking out First-Division Cobh Ramblers in Ben Wadding Park. We have also introduced the new Women’s Development League (WDL) team which was previously our WU19 and we have seen some new faces join the coaching team as well as a new MU14 side join for their first season as part of the club’s Academy teams structure.
MU20
Remaining as head coach with the group is Eddie Nolan and he will be joined by Derek Browne who will return to the club after been part of the academy pre-2020. Craig Dunphy will continue in his role as goalkeeper coach while Odhran O’Connor Colbert will also remain as analyst with the group.
MU17
Derek Hearne, Rob Clifford & Sebastian Fialkiewicz will continue in their roles with this group having reached the Mark Farren Cup Final last season. They will again aim to bring players from our junior cycle and prepare them for the senior cycle in the Academy and hopefully in time our first-team manager taking notice. Marino Lucic will lead the analysis for this group again for 2026.
MU15
Xander Coolbear who was awarded academy coach of the year will lead our MU15s for the season and having refreshed this coaching group he will be joined by Blues legend Vinny Sullivan as assistant. Vinny will bring lots of real life examples for these young lads as they aim to kick on this season. Nathan O’Connor who is the lead analyst with the Academy will continue working alongside Xander again for the coming season.
MU14
Some new faces in with this new group of players and it will be led by Derek Browne, not to be confused with the Derek with our MU20s! Derek has fantastic experience in working with this age group with the FAI Emerging Talent groups and also have previous attachment with the club so it will be a welcome return to help the newest set of blues on their journey. He will be assisted by Gary Hearne and Andrew Corbett who joins us from Wexford FC & is a student of the SETU Carlow football course. Adam Roche will lead on analysis for the lads for the season.
WU23
A new era for this group as they will face off against other U23s sides but also senior teams who do not compete in the Women’s Premier Division. Brendan White & Davy Doyle have moved up from our WU17 side to take on the challenge alongside a new bunch of players as we have seen many graduate to the first-team and some take on new challenges so a fresh start all round. Many of the group have already been in around the first-team and I am excited to see how they develop in the coming season.
WU17
With Brendan making the step up to our WDL side, John MacLean joins JP Byrne & Stevie Hall as they take the new batch of WU17s on for the coming season. With some players still remaining as underage it will be a great opportunity for the girls to test themselves against some of other big academies in the country.
Goalkeeping
First-team goalkeeping coach Brian Murphy will continue in his role as Head of Goalkeeping in the club and will oversee the development of our goalkeeper coaches as well as the development of our young talented shot-stoppers. Part of his stable of coaches is Craig Dunphy, Mark Mason, Stefan McCurley & Simon Burns.
Strength & Conditioning
This year will see the first year without Jamie Dalton as lead of the S&C in the academy as he has brought through Jack Cheevers in this role for 2026. Jack has spent many years working under Jamie and even though Jamie has stepped aside he will still assist Jack on anything he needs throughout the year. Jack will have Cameron Gordon, Pat Walsh & Dylan Kincade working alongside him as we aim to improve our players physical capacity.
Specialised Coaching
Daryl Murphy will continue in his role as forwards coach working alongside all teams to help develop our forward players both tactically & technically. These sessions have been invaluable for our players and we are delighted that Daryl is keen to continue giving back to the next generation.
Waterford FC Academy Staff
We have many other coaches working in the academy such as Luke Brennan & Conor Kutay on the pitch and also people like Vannessa McLoughlin & Ava Murphy on our medical side. Craig Shead will oversee our boys pre-academy with many other young coaches working alongside him and once this kicks off we will look more in depth to the coaching team and the work they do with these young players.
