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Unearthed gems: The legacy of Joe McAree
Features - Author: Administrator (Posted 1 year, 3 months, 1 hour, 28 minutes ago)

Celtic's Niall McGinn is the latest in a long line of talent nurtured by Joe McAree
IN the world of Northern Ireland football, Joe McAree is quite simply peerless. Few figures, if any, in the local game can boast a legacy quite like that of the Dungannon Swifts stalwart.
And if ever there were doubts raised as to the rewards of club academies and entrusting your faith in youth, then McAree’s story is a case in point.
Put crudely, the Swifts’ general manager’s influence on football here is two-fold.
At club level, without McAree, Dungannon would never be the force they are today.
And on a personal level, a whole glut of players pursuing their dream of full-time football across the water might never have got their break had it not been for his talent-spotting and tutelage.
Niall McGinn’s big-money move to Scottish giants Celtic once again brought into sharp focus McAree’s ability to groom top class talent – with Linfield new boys Mark McAllister and JP Gallagher also brought through the youth ranks at Stangmore Park.
But McGinn’s name is just the latest and biggest in a long line of former Dungannon youngsters to move onto greater things.
McAree explained: “Without the success of the youth, there would be no Dungannon Swifts in the Irish League, there’s absolutely no question about that.
“There has been weeks when we have had seven or eight players playing in the first team who have came through from our under-12s although there’s not as many now at the moment with the change of manager.
“I started the juniors 23 years ago and there weren’t too many Irish League teams running an under-12 and under-13 team at that stage.
“They had under-18 teams and youth teams but I started with under-12s and now we have about 10 junior teams.
“I said at that time that the future of your club is in the youth of the community, I remember saying that.
“A lot of people were saying what have 11-year-olds got to do with the first team. A lot of teams at that time were bringing players from Dublin and from Scotland, you think of Portadown’s success and that.
“But I always felt any success we were going to have as a smaller club was going to come from the youth of our own community.
“And it started as a small group led by my son who came to the house one day, he rapped the door with a ball under his arm saying they were looking a game.
“That was 23 years ago, and I said ‘Right, I’ll get you a match’ and we played Armagh Boys Club, that was the very start of it and it just started to grow because we saw the success of it.
“We’ve had a lot of good children come through on the conveyor belt and I think we gave upwards of 18 children a chance across the water – the latest one and the biggest one so far has been Niall McGinn (right).
“Mark Hughes was the first one, he signed for Tottenham Hotspur and spent four good years there but only played one game, I think he was captain of the reserves and he’s playing at Chester at the minute.
“Sean Donnelly and Martin Flanaghan both went to Derby County and Michael Ward, who slammed a hat-trick past Manchester United in the under-14s at the Milk Cup in the opening match, was snapped up before the Milk Cup was over by Leeds.
“We had Sean Webb who went to Rossglass County, he’s a full international as is Mark Hughes, they both have two full international caps.
“Ryan O’Neill is currently playing in West Ham Reserves, he’s a very good prospect, he’s only 18 I think. He has been training with the first team squad.
“And obviously Niall McGinn has went to Celtic, that would be our biggest coup so far.
“Those boys were all at Dungannon United Youth from six or seven years old. I got Mark McAllister at under-11, he came through all the teams as well and JP Gallagher came down at under-13.
“I spotted him playing one Sunday with Sion Mills and I asked him down and what a good lad.
“He traipsed up and down that road three days a week and never a complaint, a great attitude and a lovely cub, as all of them were, I never had a problem with any of them.”
So what is it that McAree looks for in a player?
“I look to see if they can control and pass the ball,” he said. “That’s the first thing I look for, you’ll always see the rest.
“You’ll notice if they’re sharp, the quality of passing and crossing and you’ll soon find out about the attitude.
“I suppose it has been fairly easy for me to do that, I don’t know why.”
Aside from his record with Dungannon’s youngsters, McAree has also left his indelible imprint on the club itself.
In 37 years of involvement with the club, McAree has oversaw the Swifts rise from the junior ranks of the Mid-Ulster League to a fourth-place finish – twice – in the top flight of the Irish League.
For that achievement, McAree was bestowed with the Football Writers’ ‘Manager of the Year’ award which, along with the creation of impressive indoor and outdoor facilities he procured for Dungannon United Youth, stand out as his two most memorable achievements.
“My proudest moments would be getting the facility there for Dungannon United Youth, over £800,000 spent and we owe nothing,” added McAree.
“And also the Football Writers’ ‘Manager of the Year’, presented by Peter Schmeichel is another very proud moment in my career.
“I was absolutely gobsmacked that night and I think they (the Football Writers) took into consideration I had did something on the youth side as well as steering Dungannon to fourth that season.”