Exclusive: Nottingham Forest to take Finn Harps duo on trial

Finn Harps youngsters Oisin Cooney and Gavin McAteer will attend Premier League club Nottingham Forest for a trial.

The Donegal teens will travel to Nottingham on Sunday and spend up to 10 days on Trentside in a bid to land a contract.

Goalkeeper Cooney and attacking midfielder McAteer will take part in a trial game next Tuesday.

With Harps’ hopes of making the First Division play-offs quashed following Monday’s 3-1 loss against Wexford, the path is now cleared for Cooney and McAteer to go to Nottingham on Sunday.

Dan Kelly, the head of emerging talent and recruitment at Forest and Jimmy Calvin, who spearheads the club’s scouting in Ireland, have been in close contact with Harps in recent weeks.

Both players are under contract at Harps with Cooney having penned a two-year deal last November and McAteer signing on for three years in July.

Milford native McAteer has played 15 senior games this season. He became the youngest ever player to feature for Harps in a League game when, aged 15 years and 327 days, he came off the bench against Kerry in May.

Cooney, who hails from Clonmany, has played eight times in the First Division this season and last week featured for the Republic of Ireland Under-19s in a 2-2 draw with Greece in Croatia.

“This is great news and big news for Finn Harps Football Club,” Harps manager Darren Murphy told Donegal Live. “This has been a long process, but it’s something I wanted to do when I came in as head coach. I knew that there was a lot of talented young boys in Donegal, but sometimes that talent has been a wee bit harder to emerge.

“Kevin McHugh has done an unbelievable job with the Finn Harps Academy in the last eight years. We have had so many talented players who have left Finn Harps in that time as they felt it was better to leave in order to get a chance across the water. This might seem to be a small step, but it is a huge step that shows how we are working in the background to enhance relations with scouts and other heads of academies - things that should’ve happened a long time ago.

“This is real progression for Finn Harps.”

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Murphy has been given the go-ahead to attend next week’s trial game as his young duo look to impress the coaches at The Nigel Doughty Academy.

“To travel to a Premier League club is fantastic news for these players,” Murphy said. “This is recognition of the work they have done and the work that has been done in the academy. This is about the whole process.

“I am delighted for the two boys because they have worked extremely hard all year. They have kept level-headed and cool after coming into the senior set up so young. Both sets of parents have been magnificent too and they understand the process.

“I know people will be disappointed at us missing the play-offs, but I do believe we have put in firm structures and have made sure that the football club has moved forward.

“This was never about making huge steps or changing the landscape, but about putting elements in place for people who will come in behind me. I am glad to be able to back up that I have had the boys’ best interests at heart and to help them get this opportunity. It’s fantastic that they will travel together and I want to thank Nottingham Forest for how they have been to deal with.”

In July, striker Sean Patton from Drumkeen, who is on loan at Harps from Derry City, attended a trial at EFL Championship club Portsmouth.