Bolton left to rue missed chance with ace Coleman

Everton bagged one of the bargains of the decade when they paid Sligo Rovers just £60,000 for Coleman in 2009 but Coyle, then manager of Burnley, was also keen on the Donegal lad.

"I had Seamus in at Burnley," said Coyle.

"He came in and played a trial game for us and he got injured after 10 minutes and he was unfortunate.

"He caught his knee and was out for four to six weeks but as soon as he was back fit, everybody was talking about this young player. If he'd played the full game and not picked up the injury we probably would have signed him.

"But he went back to Sligo and got himself fit again and by that time there were bigger clubs than ourselves at Burnley looking at him, with Everton being one of them and he moved there."

King trawls home talent

IRELAND U21 boss Noel King will give home-based players a chance to shine next week as he has set up a friendly game for League of Ireland players.

King has capped just one LOI player, Galway United's Seamus Conneely, in his three games in charge of the U21 side but a game between a LOI select and the Junior International XI on November 20 could change all that.

"I would love to see one, two, or any number of home-based players do the business and force their way into the squad and this is their chance," said King.

U21 PANEL: Ger Hanley (Mervue), Kevin Burns (Waterford U), Enda Stevens (Shamrock R), Andy Boyle, Ciarán Nagle, Paul Corry, Keith Ward (all UCD), Shane McEleney (Derry C), Roberto Lopez, Lee Dixon, Gary Burke, Aaron Greene, Paddy Madden (all Bohs), Graham Kelly, Jake Kelly, Chris Shields (all Bray), James O'Brien (St Pat's), Daniel Kearns (Dundalk).