Dixie Robinson believes future is bright at Dungannon Swifts as academy stars get Premiership experience
Dixie Robinson believes the future is bright at Dungannon Swifts after a number of academy stars got a taste of the senior environment during their 2-0 Premiership defeat to Crusaders.
With the likes of Danny Wallace, Thomas Maguire, Sean McAllister, Cahal McGinty and Steven Scott all missing for their trip to Seaview, Swifts chief Rodney McAree named four teenagers on his bench with 17-year-old Eoghan Liggett making a third league appearance of the season.
Daniel McCarron, who is still only 15 and has been linked with a move to Premier League giants Arsenal, 17-year-old Ben Callan and 16-year-old Jack Johnston were also amongst the replacements.
Dungannon have a proud tradition of developing young talent – the Co Tyrone club played a key role in the development of current Liverpool star Conor Bradley, while the likes of Northern Ireland internationals Liam Donnelly, Terry Devlin and Niall McGinn all came through the ranks at Stangmore Park.
"We had Danny Wallace and Tom Maguire suspended as well today, but listen, we're no different than anybody else,” said Swifts assistant Robinson. "Everybody's got their injury worries, that's part and parcel of the game.
"We had a young bench today which is exciting because we've four teenagers there. Eoghan came on towards the end at 17 and I thought for the 15 minutes he played he done really well.
"We're always hoping to bring good young players through at the club and that's what we're about.
"The kids train with the first team once a week. It's been really good for them and it's benefitting them all.
"We can see improvement and development all the time. Looking forward, we've still got plenty of talent coming through at the club.”
Defeat to Crusaders ended Dungannon’s five-game unbeaten Premiership run which solidified their top-half position.
"To be fair to the lads, over the last five or six weeks they've done the business, they've accumulated 13 out of 15 points over December,” added Robinson. "We have a few tired bodies but so has everyone.
"We can't be too hard on them, it's a disappointing result but they've done really well in the past while.
"I thought particularly in the first half, I thought we probably had five or six really good chances to score.
"The big man (Musa Dibaga) in nets pulled off a few good saves, we hit the post and we got punished at the other end."