4th Tier England better for young Irish players?

PM, I'm far from looking down on the likes of League Two clubs. The infrastructure around most of these clubs is superior to most of what is on offer in Ireland. 

My point is around player development and welfare. I was listening to the excellent LOI weekly podcast with Dan McDonnell and he had Damian Lynch and Stevie O'Donnell on. Both went over to England as youngsters and believe that they would have been better served making the breakthrough at home and then maybe going over when they were more mature. There is a strong argument that playing men's football here at age 18 is better as a learning ground than playing in the academy set up in the UK for another few years and then finding out if you're being kept on or let go. What is the % success rate for an Irish kid to make it through the youth system to a full contracts in England?

It's been well documented that the career journey of many of our current Irish born internationals has begun via the LOI and then progressed into England.

So my point about Stevenage wasn't to do with snobbery or a chip on my shoulder regarding their status. It's to do with the shameful situation that through

1) The self serving nature of the schoolboys clubs and 

2) Our sh*te facilities and lack of glamour

We can't seemingly put a proposition in place of kids to make them want to stay at home with one of our best clubs rather than go to League two. 

I know what you mean about players getting more of a crack of the whip at lower levels in the UK and then progressing than going directly to an EPL club PM. We both agree about lads benefiting from staying and doing the Leaving Cert and maturing a bit. 

There's a real opportunity in my mind that if the underage LOI is set up correctly, we could provide a strong alternative to the hit and hope model that has long since been our way of developing talent (I.E outsourcing it abroad). It was just dispiriting to read that article from SKB's to see their vested interest shine through so clearly.