RTE Pundit Alan Cawley is right - let the likes of Jaden Umeh enjoy his moment in the Spanish sun

Murcia should be an opportunity to impress without any pressure

RTE football pundit Alan Cawley drew some ire in recent days when he raised concerns around the standard of play in the League of Ireland Premier Division this season but there are times when the Sligo man deserves to be taken seriously.

There are other times of course when his opinion is just that - his opinion and only his opinion and not worth commenting on. That’s simply the fate that awaits anyone who comments on football in this world of modern day punditry and keyboard warriors.

I won’t bother reminding you what part of the human anatomy opinions are compared to. I’m sure you’re all well travelled enough to know what I am talking about.

But I will share my opinions with you on some recent Alan Cawley comments. I fully expect you to take them or leave them - and I will respect you and your own opinions whichever way you choose to go.

We will start with his concerns over the standard of play in the Premier Division of the LOI, the top level of football in this country.

Watching the Bohs v Derry City game from the comforts of the Jodi Stand on Friday night there were times when I agreed with Alan’s claim last week that the ‘quality of play’ in the League of Ireland is a ‘little bit concerning’. Many of the restless natives around me were clearly of the same mindset.

Granted, that view would not have held any water during the recent Shamrock Rovers v Bohs game at Tallaght Stadium but such was the stop-start nature of the flow of the football and the standard of passing on Friday night that I did find myself in Cawley’s corner on several occasions.

I was, to use his term, more than a little concerned about the fare offered by two of the teams still ranked as title contenders. Hopefully that concern will ease as the summer arrives and the pitches improve.

Then on Tuesday evening, listening to Alan on RTE’s drivetime sports show as I drove through Wicklow, I was in total agreement with the former Leeds United apprentice as he analysed the latest Ireland squad in the company of Marie Crowe and Keith Treacy.

I agreed when he suggested that Dara O’Shea is an Ireland captain in waiting and deserves the armband as one of the senior players going to Murcia later this week for the training camp and the friendly against Grenada.

And I completely agreed when both Alan and Keith urged us to give the younger players a break in what is essentially an experimental Ireland squad, particularly the Cork-born Benfica winger Jaden Umeh.

Jaden is only 18. He has yet to play for Benfica’s first team. He has yet to establish himself in the Ireland Under 21 squad even though he was one of the stars of Colin Healy’s side at the Under 17 World Cup finals in Qatar last year.

The RTE pundits even reminded us all on Tuesday evening that Jaden’s last game was for the Benfica Under 19 side. They warned that we have placed far too much expectation on young shoulders before with the likes of Troy Parrott and Aaron Connolly.

Thus they urged caution around Umeh and the other uncapped players in what is an Ireland B squad in everything but name, one without any players still involved in league or play-off action in England, Scotland or further afield.

Sure, there are times in life when it is good to throw caution to the wind but this isn’t one of them. Let’s all enjoy Spain for what it is - a training camp and a chance to reset after the disaster that was Prague.

Reading any more than that into what happens to Jaden Umeh and this latest Irish squad over the next two weeks is a waste of time. Jaden’s pace alone will give Heimir Hallgrimsson plenty of food for thought in Murcia but let’s not start picking him to start the Nations League in September just yet.

This week’s Spanish trip is the real start of his international football education. It is not a finishing school.