The latest young star to swap the Irish League for the football scene in England was centre-back Craig Farquhar, who switched from Larne for Crystal Palace during the January transfer window.
The defender, who had joined the Invermen only the summer before from his home town club Ballymena United, made a six-figure move into the Premier League side’s academy set-up, joining his fellow former Sky Blue and current Port Vale loanee Kofi Balmer in swooping into the Eagles’ nest having also availed of full-time football at Larne before departing in the summer of 2022.
What may go under the radar, however, is that Ballymena wasn’t where Farquhar first took the leap into senior men’s football. It was on loan from the Braidmen at Dundela in the Championship, spending six months at Wilgar Park from January to June 2022 and worked under the tutelage of an experienced Irish League boss in Niall Currie. The 20-year-old built on that, impressed under David Jeffrey at United, earned his move to Tiernan Lynch’s Larne and, six months later and with European football added to his repertoire, has joined Palace.
With that in mind, and also noting that the second-flight has become an increasingly attractive place for flowers to bloom in recent years, let’s look at five talents aged 21 or under who have taken the Championship by storm throughout the 2023/24 term.
Oisin Devlin – Institute (on loan from Larne), central midfielder, 17 years old
Institute have enjoyed a resurgent 2023/24 campaign under Kevin Deery, going from second-bottom to promotion-chasing in the space of less than a year.
The north-west outfit have made a number of statements of intent in January, too, as they fortify an unexpected push to return to the Premiership four years on from their drop-out at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With two frontmen who have scored for fun at this level in the recent past in BJ Banda and Mikhail Kennedy linking up, they have also secured the services of 13-times-capped former Northern Ireland left-back Daniel Lafferty to prove they are serious about a promotion bid.
Significantly, though, they have also retained the services of one of their own crown jewels.
This has been a breakout season for Oisin Devlin, a tidy midfielder who has routinely put in performances above and beyond what you would expect from a 17-year-old.
Composed with the ball at his feet and unafraid in the face of the more rough-and-tumble elements of the game, it was only a matter of time before a big gun took notice – and it was Premiership champions Larne who won the race, securing his services on a three-and-a-half-year contract in the winter.
However, he will remain with ‘Stute for the rest of the campaign before linking up at Inver Park in the summer, and this prodigy in the middle of the park will try and help set up a duel between his present and former employers in the top-flight before departing for good.
Born in October 2006, he will not even have turned 21 when the deal he’s signed with Larne expires, but he’s already notched up 50 senior appearances having been trusted to deliver both by ex-Derry City captain Deery and Brian Donaghey in the past year, rewarding them with three goals and a flurry of industrious displays.
Also capable of performing a number of different roles in the middle third, Devlin’s versatility is another trait that captured suitors’ attentions – a number of EFL clubs also took a liking to the teenager – and he is expected to hit new heights with the benefit of full-time football in years ahead.
Institute will treasure him while they can, however, and promotion would be quite the way to send him off.
Kirk McLaughlin – Institute (on loan from Glentoran), centre-forward, 19 years old
Institute not only possess a fine central midfielder, but they also have the joint top-scoring player in the division under the age of 21.
Graduating through Coleraine’s set-up and bursting through to make an impact for the first-team, McLaughlin then swapped The Showgrounds for The BetMcLean Oval in the summer of 2022 in pursuit of full-time football and has especially shone at the Brandywell in 23/24.
With eight strikes in the league, only eight players have outscored the fleet-footed forward in the Playr-Fit Championship, while he has also netted in the Irish Cup and North West Cup to bring his overall tally to 12.
They’ve also tended to both come when it counts and hit where it hurts.
A second-half hat-trick against Bangor in October was a standout, a brace versus Ards – including a 96th-minute winner – in December was clutch, while finishes in comeback victories away to top-six adversaries Ballyclare Comrades and the then-league leaders Dundela rescued vital points rewards that could make all the difference come the end of the season.
Should ‘Stute secure the step up, it wouldn’t be the first time for McLaughlin, either. He was a member of the Loughgall panel that went up as champions in 2023 and knows the stakes at play week-in, week-out that can help the maroon-coloured outfit merrily on their way.
McLaughlin is a centre-forward by trade but also possesses the control and poise to play on the wings.
His agility and movement have proved troublesome to contain and he is as impactful off the bench as when he starts, proving his adaptability to whatever the situation demands.
His form has even led some Glens fans to contemplate the thought of recalling the Coleraine native, who turns 20 in June, during the January window, but he is set to stay with Institute for the time being and will boost Deery’s panel for crunch clashes to come.
Since McLaughlin’s debut for the Bannsiders, coming in a North West Cup encounter against Limavady United in September 2021, the enthusiasm has shot up around him and it feels like a bright future in the Premiership or beyond beckons for a prospect with over 60 matches at senior level under his belt.
But, like Devlin, ‘Stute are happy to have him in the here and now – and he is sure to have a further say during a key season climax.
Lewis Francis – Bangor (on loan from Dungannon Swifts), centre-back, 19 years old
With seven goals in the Playr-Fit Championship in the 2023/24 season, Francis is the top-scoring defender in the division – but his exploits are hardly confined to just goal-getting.
A cornerstone in an overachieving Bangor side, the Magherafelt man’s first full campaign of senior football has been a stellar one.
He arrived at Clandeboye Park as one of the most coveted stars of a Dungannon Swifts second-string set-up that achieved the runners-up spot in the Under-20 Premiership, but senior football hasn’t waned the 19-year-old’s top attributes – indeed, they’ve grown as he’s made his presence felt at both ends of the pitch.
Four goals in December, including a pivotal 93rd-minute winner at Ballyclare Comrades and a brace to complete a comeback triumph over Annagh United, preceded his first of the new year; the deadlock-breaker in the Seasiders’ 3-0 success over Dundela in a top-of-the-table blockbuster in north Down.
Francis’ fan favourite status has been firmly enshrined, and after winning the NIFWA Championship Player of the Month award for December for his key contributions to an unbeaten month for Lee Feeney’s men, the only path would seem to be up for the towering centre-back.
Prior to his arrival on the seaside, 2004-born Francis rose up through Dungannon’s ranks and was handed his senior Swifts bow by Dean Shiels in a November 2021 Mid-Ulster Cup duel against Warrenpoint Town.
Close tabs were kept on the teen as he took in senior minutes in knock-out settings before his Premiership debut – in a 2-1 victory where he played the full 90 minutes – against Newry City on the final day of last season.
And he was named among the substitutes for the first leg of Dungannon’s relegation play-off against Annagh United before swapping the tutelage of one former Rangers ace for another by joining Feeney’s Bangor for this term.
The Yellows, promoted into the second-tier after Premier Intermediate League title joy in 2023 marked their long-awaited return to senior football, have been thrust into the conversation at the summit. In fact, that victory over the Duns briefly lifted them to second-place – they sit third at present – and new arrivals like Howard Beverland, Conor McDermott, Tiarnan Mulvenna and Marty Bradley would indicate a back-to-back step-up isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
Nevertheless, Francis has been a mainstay and is sure to retain his important role as the run-in approaches.
Paul Donnelly – Newington, central midfielder, 20 years old
Energetic Donnelly has been a sensation in Newington’s midfield this season, establishing himself as one of the best young box-to-box players in the Championship under Paul Hamilton’s watchful eye.
The nephew of Martin Donnelly, the former Larne, Cliftonville, Crusaders and Linfield winger who amassed over 400 career appearances both at home and abroad, Paul is writing his own story having arrived from Cliftonville in January 2023.
In 12 months since, the 20-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise and is one of the top-scoring players in his part of the pitch in the second-tier, scoring eight times from midfield in 2023/24 and adding a brace in the Irish Cup that helped The ‘Ton fend off Dundela 2-1 in the Fifth Round.
Donnelly has a knack for leaving it late, too – and when he strikes, it makes a difference.
He has scored a 93rd-minute winner against Dergview and a 95th-minute clincher versus Ballinamallard United, but his favourite opposition has tended to be from east Belfast.
Braces against Knockbreda and H&W Welders proved good for four points from six, while that double against the Duns was critical to sealing a date with Newry City in the last-16 – and he’d earlier netted against the same opponents in a 4-2 league defeat at Wilgar Park.
Small wonder he’s one of the Swans’ most prized possessions.
It has been a season of change in more ways than one for Newington, who relocated from Solitude in their north Belfast heartland to Larne’s Inver Park ahead of this campaign.
To add to that, many onlookers had the former Amateur League establishment as potential relegation candidates – indeed, this is their second-ever campaign of senior-status football following their promotion from the PIL in 2022 – and they had seen talents such as Gary Warwick and Robbie McVarnock depart the club.
Yet the green-shirted charges started the 2023/24 season on fire, with six wins in their opening seven outings briefly firing them to the league summit and quickly snuffing out any notions of a dogfight at the bottom.
They are perched in seventh-place, still comfortably clear of any drop-zone trouble thanks in no small part to the inspired regular goal-getting exploits of frontman Zach Barr, and though their summer recruit would seal a January move to Portadown, Donnelly has speedily taken the baton with four strikes this month.
Good players take charge when the chips appear to be down, and it’s a measure of the tenacious 2003-born ace’s mentality that he is doing precisely that.
Eight yellow cards also indicates he’s unafraid to put his foot in when he needs to.
With 37 points in total and only outside the top half on goal difference, a reservation at the higher table post the split would unequivocally represent the loftiest placing in Newington’s near-50-year-history.
Donnelly will underpin their hopes of getting there.
Tiarnan O’Connor – Harland and Wolff Welders, forward, 21 years old
This may be O’Connor’s first season within the NIFL ranks, but he’s left nothing to chance and established himself as one of H&W Welders’ most dangerous threats.
Formerly on Chesterfield’s books having spent a year within their Under-21 set-up, his return to these shores was secured in 2022 when he linked back up with the club that made him – Maiden City.
After a further year playing in the fourth-tier NI Intermediate League, in which he also won the Craig Memorial Cup, 12 goals in 10 appearances across a condensed campaign saw the Derryman departed his home town outfit for Paul Kee’s Welders in the summer of 2023.
And what a success story he’s been in east Belfast; not just a player who gets the job done, but who likes to thrill while he’s doing it.
With eight goals to date in the Playr-Fit Championship, O’Connor agreed a professional contract in the winter as a reward for his efforts.
A particular hot streak between December 16 and January 1 when he scored six goals in four appearances showed how explosive he can be when he’s in the mood.
His strikes during that span accounted for seven points in that quartet of fixtures, including in 2-1 victories against Ballinamallard and rivals Dundela, with the cherry on top coming in the form of a stellar 19-minute first-half hat-trick against Ballyclare Comrades on New Year’s Day.
The Welders’ attack is in rude health right now, and O’Connor, who joins seasoned sharp-shooting duo Matthew Ferguson (13 goals) and Michael McLellan (six goals) among the club’s top-scoring pantheon in 2023/24, is one of their shining lights.
Kee had hoped to mount a promotion charge at Blanchflower Park following a strong second half of the previous season when they shot away from the relegation dogfight to the right end of the table.
There is work still to do as they sit sixth-placed on 37 points in the standings, just above Newington on goal difference, but intriguing options like Ewan McCoubrey, Jamie Glover, new arrival Billy Cassells and a yet-to-ignite David Parkhouse could make a difference during the run-in and inspire a further climb.
O’Connor has a sting in his tail and a fearlessness to run at people that opponents have bore the brunt of already this term. Expect him to continue to pop up when he’s needed most.
Featured image from Hammy McClements/Dundela FC Media.
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