Finn Harps FC are immensely proud to confirm that three of our academy graduates, Gavin McAteer, Josh Cullen, and Corey Sheridan have been selected for the Republic of Ireland Under-17 squad heading to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.
This is a remarkable achievement for the players, their families, their schoolboy clubs and coaches and of course everyone involved in the Finn Harps Academy. Their selection is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and development that has been ongoing across all levels of the club’s youth structure in recent years.
Finn Harps Head Coach and Head of Academy Kevin McHugh welcomed the news saying, “As their head coach and somebody who’s have been heavily involved with the three players all along the way, as Head of the Academy, and followed their progression all along the way, it’s a brilliant day. A huge congratulations to them and to their families.
It’s also a brilliant day for their previous clubs in Milford United, Donegal Town and Erne Wanderers and all their coaches and the leagues who have helped the players grow and contributed massively to the boys reaching the highest level possible for players in their age group in world football.
It’s a huge day for football here and in our club history. It’s definitely a first for anybody from Finn Harps to be involved in a World Cup and to have not one or even two but three players there is just phenomenal. Not many clubs can say that, so it’s a massive, massive day for us as a football club.
International involvement is something that’s one of the measurements that we try to gauge each year. The goal for these boys through the development squads and the National League teams is to try to reach the first team, they’ve done that at young age and that brought interest from the international camp. To be going to the World Cup with the best players in the world in their age group is massive for them, massive for football in Donegal and of course brilliant for our football club as well.
It’s definitely proof that what we’re trying to do in terms of sustainable, changing structures so that top end pathway is accessible for young players to get in and get a chance of minutes on the pitch. Long term, that’s something we’ve tried to do and something our fans can be proud of as well because they’ve backed these players through tough moments and haven’t had a lot to shout about at times but turned up in numbers and backed the players, including the boys going to the world cup.
So a brilliant, brilliant day for the football club in general and as a staff we are so, so proud of the three boys”.
Finn Harps FC Chairperson Ian Harkin praised the achievement, highlighting the collective effort behind the club’s recent Academy progress:
“This is a very proud moment for everyone at Finn Harps. To have Gavin, Josh and Corey representing Ireland on the world stage is an incredible achievement. It reflects the fantastic work that Kevin and all of our coaches, staff and volunteers have done in developing our youth structures and processes over the past number of years.
The foresight shown in focusing on players from the age of ten, and in building a clear pathway for them to develop while remaining in Donegal, is now paying off. We can proudly say that Finn Harps are among the top clubs in Ireland this year for giving first-team minutes to Academy graduates. That’s something we can all be very proud of. Even as we rebuild, it shows the importance of having a strong foundation. Long-term, this approach will benefit the club both on the pitch as we develop more first team players and as a sustainable model for club development while providing a genuine pathway to international recognition and career progression in football right here in Donegal. We have had 13 Harps players on international duty in 2025 so it was already a landmark year- this latest news really is the cherry on the cake.”
The club as a whole extends its congratulations to Corey, Josh, and Gavin, and wishes them and the Ireland squad every success in Qatar. They are an inspiration to the next generation of young footballers in the Northwest and a shining example of what can be achieved through dedication, teamwork, and belief.
