news-engine

Former Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne has kept the door open to taking the vacant managerial position at Derry City. Dunne was back in Dublin this week at his schoolboy club Home Farm, who have entered the new FAI National League as Home Farm DCU. Dunne plans to send one of the best prospects from his Monaco-based FMC Elite Football Academy over to Whitehall as part of a new link-up. A Pro License holder, the 46-year-old was linked with the Bohemians job in 2022, and has been open about his desire to follow in the footsteps of old international teammate Damien Duff by managing in the Premier Division. Derry are on the hunt for a new boss following the departure of Tiernan Lynch at the start of the month. When asked if he'd be interested in throwing his hat in the ring, Dunne told RTÉ Sport's Shane Dawson: "Derry's a really good club and a club that seems to have really good backing. I'm sure they have loads of potential targets and... you know, just see how it goes. "I still do coaching, I'm at games all the time and yeah I still have ambitions to coach at a higher level. "I'm interested in this now at Home Farm, to be part of this and to to see the workings behind the scenes and all that sort of stuff, so yeah it's still an ambition of mine. It's something that I enjoy doing, I enjoy being on the pitch, I enjoy watching games, I enjoy trying to help players develop." The inaugural edition of the National League begins at the end of the month, and will be run on a truncated basis. Fifteen clubs will take part in three groups of five, with teams playing each other both home and away. The three winners of the groups will advance to the semi-finals, with the last place going to the best performing runner-up. From spring of next year, the competition will be fully formatted, with the chance for promotion to the First Division for the 2028 season. "I think it's going to benefit Irish football massively having the three leagues." "I think when you build a structure and it gives more young players a pathway to senior football in Ireland, it's going to be of benefit," Dunne said of the new league. "Home Farm have been sort of languishing below the League of Ireland for a long time so it's nice now that they're back. They're in a setup where they can progress, they can develop and hopefully get back into the Premier Division in the League of Ireland. "It's important now that Home Farm are part of that structure that they can tell their seven, eight, nine-year-olds that there is a pathway here, this is what we want to do, this is how we want to develop you. And when you get to the correct age you'll be ready and be prepared to play in the League of Ireland which is a huge boost for attracting players but also for the players to see an end goal. "I think it's going to benefit Irish football massively having the three leagues." Dunne watched his old club Manchester City slump to a 3-0 loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield last Sunday as life after Pep Guardiola began in earnest. It was a tough day for new boss Enzo Maresca, but Dunne is confident the foundations at the club are sound. "The performance on Sunday was disappointing and a little bit of a shock," he said. "Most fans watching it would have thought they look a long way away from where they needed to be, but as we've seen before with pre-season games it takes a bit of time for City to get going normally. "I'm sure they'll do some business and I think after the success they've had with Guardiola any manager coming in was going to find it difficult. It was always going to be, 'oh but Pep didn't do that, Pep did it this way' and all that sort of stuff, so Maresca is going to have to handle all that. "The structure at Man City is better than most clubs and they're more prepared for Pep leaving. Whether Maresca is the man long term depends on how he performs over the next couple of seasons but I don't see any panic within the club that after a couple of bad results he's going to be moved on." Dunne also aired his excitement at Troy Parrott's imminent move to Real Betis. The Dubliner was close to joining West Ham in the Championship. Instead, he's Spain bound following a successful stint with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands. "I think it's really good," said Dunne. "West Ham were obviously linked very closely with him but he's decided to stay in a top division in La Liga. It's a new experience for him. "In England you can go missing at times because clubs just churn players out all the time. If a £20m signing doesn't work for them they'll just go and buy another £20m signing, whereas I think at Real Betis he'll be given time to settle, he'll be given time to to integrate himself into the team. "We get transfixed with English football over here and we think, 'well if it's not the Premier League, the Championship is the next best' but there's so many top leagues. "You'd be pleased for Troy that he's taken the brave choice. He's not just gone back to an English-speaking country, he's gone off again to another country having to learn a new language but he's willing to take up the challenge and he knows that he can do it because he's done it well in Holland. "I think he'll be a huge success."