Mayo's soccer supremo Danny O'Toole and his Lebanon coaching journey
A LITTLE over three weeks ago Danny O’Toole received the news that he had been awarded a prestigious UEFA B coaching licence.
Danny, aged 22, from The Neale, has been making steady progress in recent years along the coaching route.
Danny currently works in Lebanon with AMAK - a professional football centre of excellence, and this is part of his work placement with South East Technical University Carlow.
Danny will graduate from SETU later this year having studied Sports Management and Coaching for the past three years.
Danny has also had a stellar playing career with Mervue United, Ballinrobe Town, and he also played for the Mayo Under 21 Development Squad as well as the Mayo Schoolboys League Under 15 team.
Danny O’Toole said that football has always been part of his life.
“Football has always been a big part of my life, and I suppose everything clicked into gear when I started playing underage football in Galway with Mervue United. At that club I met some key people and top coaches, which included Ger McGrath, Damien Brennan and Ollie Neary, and they introduced me to the technical side of the game.
“Since then I always had a fascination with the various drills.
“My dad (Damian) was very good to me and he would drive me to Galway for matches and training sessions. Around the time of the Covid lockdown I was going really well playing football and I was also learning so much about the drills.”
Moving to Ballinrobe Town AFC helped introduce Danny to coaching.
“In my Leaving Certificate year, I decided to make the move from Mervue United to Ballinrobe Town, and during that time I met Pat O’Sullivan and J.P. O’Gorman and that led me to coaching underage football on Sunday mornings.
"It was my initial move into coaching, and I would be looking at various drills on YouTube and trying to develop as a coach. Around that time, I also met Derek O’Sullivan, and he was then the underage goalkeeping coach at Galway United.
"Derek brought me along to a Galway United coaching camp and I met some top coaches at that event, such as Gary Traynor and Johnny Glynn, and they gave me some great advice as well.
“I became involved in the camps that both Gary and Johnny were organising, and we went all across Galway, where I also became good friends with another coach, Conor Devane. Conor and I are studying in the same course at Carlow.
“I was only 17 when Gary and Johnny gave me the opportunity to start coaching and that was a great experience for me at such a young age. I also met Xavi Vazquez in Galway, who then became the Ballinrobe Town junior men’s manager – and that was a great experience to have him in the club and to learn from him again. I also worked with Xavi for his XVAcademy. At Galway United I also met Gerry Heaney, who is originally from Hollymount, and he is a well-respected coach at Galway United.”
O’Toole remembers the day that fate played a part in his fledgling coaching career.
“When I was playing with Mervue United, I remember one time walking into the clubhouse at Fahy’s Field and seeing a poster on the noticeboard about SETU (South East Technical University) Carlow Sports Management and Coaching and I thought ‘wow, a football course’.
"I always had that course at the back of my mind and when I finished the Leaving Certificate that was the course that I wanted to do. It was a big step moving to Carlow for that course, but I am glad I made that decision.
“Paul O’Reilly is my tutor at SETU, and he is one of the best football people that I have ever met. He has elevated my expertise at coaching and the way that I look at the game as well.”
It has been a long process for O’Toole to get his UEFA B licence.
“When you finish first year at SETU you do your national D coaching licence, after second year you get your UEFA C licence, and then after third year, which I recently completed, you get the opportunity to get your UEFA B licence. That progression has helped me get the UEFA B licence. Achieving my B licence was a proud occasion for my family, especially for my parents, Sarah and Damian.
“At SETU I got the opportunity to also coach the college teams, and you are going around the country to games and that was also an invaluable experience.
“In my second year at SETU, I coached at Mayo FC alongside Joe Murray and he is a fantastic coach, and during that time I learned how to analyse football. It was great to be able to link that experience with Mayo FC into my studies.
“I have coached St. Patrick’s AFC in the Carlow and District Football League, where Patrick Brennan is the manager and again, you are working with great football people and learning all the time.”
Danny explained how the opportunity to coach in Lebanon came about.
“Paul O’Reilly has a careers group chat on WhatsApp and that involves previous and current students. And that chat has links to coaching opportunities across Ireland and the world.
"I spotted this opportunity about coaching in a football academy in Lebanon. It was a summer job and at that time I was kept busy with Mayo FC. However, in the end I decided to take the opportunity to coach in Lebanon and football is a global game.
“Deciding to coach in Lebanon is one of the best decisions I have ever made, and it is all interlinked with my decision to go to SETU Carlow in the first place.
“I was over in Lebanon last year from June to September and there was three months of underage coaching, and it was very enjoyable. The kids are very appreciative for the coaching, and we also delivered UEFA material to them as well.
“They are very technical footballers, and their technique is brilliant as they would previously have played Futsal. We coached from Under 6 level right up to Under 21 level.
“I am based in Kahale, 13 kilometres southeast of Beirut, and that area is safe from the bombings. You can see that people are affected from what is going on.
“From last January until May I was in the Middle East, and it was a fantastic experience.
“The plan is to do another summer of coaching in Lebanon with AMAK at the centre of excellence. We hope to expand with AMAK and to build on our success in Lebanon, and then to hopefully have a branch in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.”
The Neale native was looking forward to seeing AMAK’s Under 14 team face PSG in February, but that match was cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Last February the AMAK Under 14 team travelled to Doha, Qatar, and we were supposed to play their PSG Academy team. The day we landed we had presentations in the hotel delivering footballs and that was when I realised what an amazing journey I have been on so far.
“However, the next day our phones started receiving messages about missiles flying over the hotel. I remember stepping outside the hotel and looking up at the missiles being intercepted in the sky and that was a surreal moment.
“We then had to tell our Under 14 team that the game was called off due to the security concerns, and that we did not know how long we would be staying in the hotel. We had to come up with other ideas and activities for the team, such as quizzes, and we also made a documentary about our trip which is on the academy’s Instagram page.
“We ended up staying in Doha for a week and a half, and with the airport being closed down we had to travel for 12 hours on a bus across Saudi Arabia, including going through a desert to get to Riyadh – and then we flew from there back to Beirut. In total it took us 18 hours to get back to Beirut.”
As for the future, Danny is taking it one day at a time and hasn’t ruled out the possibility about coaching at League of Ireland level down the line.
“With coaching it might be nice to think long term, however, it is just a day-by-day process. I think good things will happen with AMAK, and our founder and CEO Antoine Abi Khalil is a top football man. Antoine has a strong background in football, and he has good aspirations for AMAK. We also have international coaches visit our academy and it is nice to learn from them as well.
“I am only 22, and maybe in a year or two I might try and get my UEFA youth licence and then down the line perhaps I might get my UEFA A licence.
“I want to try and keep learning and growing as a coach.”