Galway United U17 manager Martin Devlin is delighted that his rapidly improving side has reached the Mark Farren Cup final.
Saturday's 3-1 win at the penultimate stage over Shelbourne confirmed United's dramatic improvement.
"We have put in a lot of hard work since the start of the season," Devlin says. "We lost our first three games in the league against Shels, Waterford, and Shamrock Rovers. We are now unbeaten in 11 games since, it is a good run to go on, and a good time to start gaining momentum and a bit of form.
"As I said to them before the game on Saturday it is part of their development, you still have to learn to win games and learn to deal with the bit of pressure and bit of nervousness that comes on players before games. In fairness they are handling it really well at the minute, on Saturday there was no sign of any nerves, no inferiority complex or anything. The lads really believed in themselves."
Delighted that a number of the squad regularly train with John Caulfield's senior team, Devlin remains optimistic about the potential in his squad.
"It is great we can push players on," he says. "We have a few training fairly regularly with the first team, a couple are being used with the U19s throughout the season."
Recruited in July, David Tarmey has enjoyed a hugely productive stint for Devlin's outfit.
"Dave has done really well since he came in during the transfer window in July when we signed him from Cregmore," Devlin responds.
"He is a fast learner Dave, he listens, he takes everything on board, and he tries to execute what we are asking of him which is always a big plus. He is doing well and he gives us a different way of playing too in the build up.
"His play with his back to goal is very good, when he gets turned he can be a real handful running at defences and he is able to finish obviously with nine goals in those few games he has played."
**Listen to the full interview with Martin Devlin on this week's 'Cian On Sport' podcast available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
