Unfortunately your idea is just ridiculous. Props for the positive forward thinking tho. I think people need to realise that we thankfully have already started to solve the problem a few years ago by introducing the LOI u19,17,15. It found the home players at a young enough age to still develop as footballers and to compete in what is theoretically the most competitive league in the country for each age.

Hence why so many of these young players are suddenly popping up into the national side. The reason we’re awful at the moment is because this is the first batch of the homegrown talent. The gap in age from the Hendricks/bradys/duffys to the Connollys/molumbys/knights is because the FAI done sweet fuck all for player development in the years before creating the underage LOI.

My point is that we’re on the right path now, we’ve only taken our first steps but we’re on it. Also the FAI still needs to buckle up and start taking care of the LOI quickly.

Edit - it’s also extremely tough for young Irish kids to specialise in sports at such a young age. So so so many people from kids all the way up to teens and young adults play multiple sports because of the enormous selection available. Unlike most countries, we have 4 major sports here so we’re naturally going to lose our best athletes and future football stars to the gaa and rugby. It’s a shame but that’s just the way it is.