BRIAN LENIHAN BECAME the latest player to earn a move from the SSE Airtricity League to England’s top flight as his transfer from Cork City to Hull City was confirmed over the weekend.
We probably haven’t had the opportunity to see a huge amount of him and it is difficult to make a judgement on a player over such a short period of time but he is a very good player — there’s no doubt about that.
From what I have seen of him he stands out as a talent. He has got plenty of footballing ability and appears to be quite a mature young man who is very disciplined.
That is a huge attribute to have and the fact that he is grounded will help him with the move. Back in July, he suffered what looked like a bad injury at Dalymount Park and that will have been a scare.
So mentally, he has had to deal with that as well as all the talk of a move to England. But he has got a good head on his shoulders and it’s a great opportunity.
You often see players going over at a young age and they can be like a rabbit in the headlights. Maybe they don’t realise just how hard they have to work when they get there. Some of them may think that they have already made it, which regularly proves not to be the case as only a small percentage succeed.
Brian is going to a club which has a good link with Irish players when you consider David Meyler, Robbie Brady, Stephen Quinn and Paul McShane all currently play there. Manager Steve Bruce seems quite keen on him and was a defender himself so they’re all positives.
Ultimately, it will all be down to him whether he takes the opportunities.
He certainly looks like he will cope with the physical nature of the Premier League but he no doubt will have to work on his condition when he gets over there. That’s all part and parcel.
It’s the stuff that guys are doing extra that really matters. The Premier League is played at such a quick pace and your body has to deal with a lot. The sooner he takes that on board the quicker he will get opportunities.
Bruce says he is one for the future but I don’t see any reason why that he can’t advance to the first team and eventually force his way into the Ireland squad.
Obviously there’s Seamus Coleman at right back but we are short on defenders are the moment. If he can develop the way everyone hopes he can, he will be an asset to the national team.
I’ve seen him tagged as the ‘new Seamus Coleman’ but they are very different types of players. Coleman’s biggest attribute is attacking and he has played as a right-sided midfielder over the years. He’s very dynamic with a good engine and is great at getting forward.
In comparison, Lenihan is possibly a better defender than Coleman was at that age and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him move to a more central role. He is physically strong and also very comfortable on the ball.
From the League of Ireland’s point of view, it is showcasing the talent we have here. Whether or not we can capitalise on that is a different story. We haven’t been able to turn that into bums on seats and, as I’ve said before, we don’t profile these players.
We don’t see the Brian Lenihan, Keith Fahey, Killian Brennan or Richie Towell on billboards selling Adidas boots to kids. It is only when these guys are gone that many people realise ‘oh, he used to play for Cork’.
In terms of his own development, I think it’s a very good stepping stone and best of luck to him.
