George likes the strength in depth to his squad

Editorial Department • Published 22 Jul 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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Milk Cup 2010

Fermanagh Junior manager George Elliott has a wealth of experience when it comes to the Milk Cup and it says something when he feels that this is the strongest squad that he has been involved with at the competition.

Elliott was in the first management team of a Fermanagh side when he worked under Davy Wheeler in 1992 and he was also the manager of the juniors when they first took part in the tournament in 1999.

In one capacity or another, Elliott has been a regular at the Milk Cup and it is a competition that he loves.

"It is a superbly run competition and when you see some of the players who have come through it speaks for itself. There are players from Paraguay and the US who played at this year's World Cup who were at the Milk Cup and the standard of football at it is unbelievable. I pick a player every year and try and follow his path until he gets to the top level of football," he said.

And Elliott has also seen a number of Fermanagh players grab their chance at the Milk Cup and go on to a higher level.

"In my first year with the junior side in 1999 we had Michael McGovern and you've also had Kyle Lafferty, Roy Carroll, Andy Little and Kieran McKenna who have gained moves. There's also the likes of Shane McCabe and Ryan McCluskey who are now playing at the top level in the Irish League. It is great to see all these players doing well," commented George.

And the manager feels that he has a number of contenders within his squad this year who could catch the eye of the talent scouts who will be in the North West in their droves next week.

"There are a couple of players in the panel who I'd be disappointed if there was not clubs looking at them. I've three or four who I think people will be looking at," he said.

Fermanagh will take on English side Brentford in their opening game on Monday before coming up against Russian outfit Spartak Moscow the following day and Elliott is expecting two big tests.

"I would think that Brentford would be a fairly strong and big side and I think they will have a lot of lads who can play football. They might cause us problems at set pieces if we are not properly focussed. Spartak Moscow, I would expect to be a really good team. With the numbers living in the likes of Moscow I can't see them coming over here with a bad team and I'm sure they would be thinking about getting to the last day in Ballymena," he added.

However, Elliott, who lost Garbhan McManus and then his replacement Christopher Nixon through injury, believes that he has a good enough squad to compete with his opponents.

"I'm very satisfied with the squad we have. From 1-18, in terms of strength, this is the strongest I've had, we have a bit of physical power - Sean Keenan is a very strong player and Gareth Carrothers is another powerful player," stated George, who went on to praise the work carried out by trainer Ryan Whitely. "He has done a lot of good work with the players and they have responded well to him. You can really see the work that he has done in the players."

And the manager feels that it would be a reasonable goal for the side to make it into the middle competition.

"Whenever a county team gets to the middle competition and do well it is a great achievement. That would be my goal this year although it is going to take a great performance and our players are going to have to play at the top of our game. You always find though that there is two or three players who rise above what even his, or the manager's expectations are," he said.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 22 Jul 10

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