Northern Ireland: The making of Stuart Dallas - how the 'ultra-shy kid who could run all day' grew up in the Irish League

Stuart Dallas had been involved in many of Stephen Uprichard's training sessions at Coagh United, but this one was different.

The then 21-year-old was just a few months into his first contract in professional football with Brentford, a League One side at the time, but was back in his native Cookstown for a short break.

Given the relentless fitness levels the Northern Ireland international is displaying in the Premier League with Leeds United, it is perhaps not surprising that he was determined not to lose his edge while at home.

And so he reported for training with Coagh, the junior club with whom he cut his teeth in men's football across three seasons after making his debut for them as a 16-year-old in 2007.

"He came down to training one night and asked if we minded if he joined in as he had his own fitness programme to do," recalled Uprichard, who was joint manager with Noel Mitchell during Dallas' time at the amateur club.

"That was fine, of course, but then he came to me and asked if he could take part in our match at the end of the session. I said 'are you having a laugh? You're a professional footballer'.

"But he was adamant he could look after himself and that the boys wouldn't kick him. I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but he did join in and the lads loved it."

A 'poor joiner' destined for the top in football

Dallas and Northern Ireland face a tough trip to Italy on Thursday

Performing in a variety of positions, Dallas has been one of manager Marcelo Bielsa's most consistent performers in a swashbuckling Leeds side that have won a lot of admirers on their return to England's top flight.

The 29-year-old will again be vital to Northern Ireland as they begin their World Cup qualifying campaign this week. While hugely proud of the heights his former player has reached, it is the fact Dallas still has "no airs or graces" that impresses Uprichard most.

"He is the nicest character you could meet and has kept in touch with a lot of the lads," continued Uprichard, who now manages Dollingstown.

"I am still on a WhatsApp group that he set up a few years ago to organise a stag do for one of his close friends. He came to join us for part of the trip to Manchester and loved it. And when I won the Intermediate Cup with Dollingstown last year he messaged straight away to say well done."

While playing for Cookstown Youth, Dallas got experience of men's football even at 13 and 14 by joining in Coagh training sessions, and held his own. His talent was clear for all to see but, as Uprichard joked, his skills as a joiner were not quite on a par.

"We played him either left or right wing. He had a great football brain, knew when to lay it off or when to hold on to it, while his fitness levels were phenomenal. Not long after he went to Brentford he told us they couldn't believe that he had come from part-time football.

"He was certainly a better footballer than a joiner. Coagh chairman Brian Dallas (no relation) was a joiner by trade and took Stuart under his wing to give him a job, but joked it is as well Stuart made it as a footballer because he certainly would not have made it as a joiner."

Irish Premiership beckons after talks at final whistle

Dallas spent three years at Brentford before joining Leeds in 2015

With Coagh in the Irish League's second tier, everyone at the County Tyrone club realised the then 18-year-old was destined to move on to much bigger things.

Crusaders were in the early stages of re-establishing themselves as Irish Premiership title challengers when, as fate would have it, the two sides were drawn to meet in the Irish Cup in January 2010.

Manager Stephen Baxter had already been tipped off about Dallas's raw talent - and he wasted no time in making his move.

"We won the game quite convincingly but we had Gareth McKeown at right back, who was a good player for us, and Stuart gave him a right good run for his money," the now three-time Premiership title-winning manager recalled.

"I realised 'this kid's a player' and went to speak to Noel and Stephen as soon as the match was over. They advised me to act quickly so I headed straight for the dressing room and was soon chatting to Stuart and his father. The deal was agreed later that week."

Dallas was keen to stay with Coagh and help with their relegation fight before joining Crusaders that summer. He was worth the wait for the Belfast outfit, helping them to League Cup and all-Ireland Setanta Cup success in 2012 after winning the Irish League's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards in his first campaign.

"He came from a wonderful family. His dad brought him to training and matches, and he was sensational in his first year with us. We put him in with senior pros and he was able to hold his own right from the get-go, thanks to his natural ability."

'Following the pack' to learn how a dressing rooms works

Dallas was named Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year by the NI Football Writers' Association in 2011

Crusaders would go on to win three Premiership titles in four seasons from 2014-2015 but, having dropped down to the Irish League second flight for one season just five years before Dallas arrived, Baxter feels the club was at an ideal stage to aid his development.

"He had a real connection with the supporters. We were only a growing team at the time and I think that was a big benefit to Stuart. He would not have played in the Linfield first-team at that age, for example," he said.

"He was ultra-shy, as you might expect from a young boy coming up to Belfast from the country, but the senior lads took him under their wing. Like Gavin Whyte when he came through our club a few years later, Stuart followed the pack to learn how a dressing room works, and the importance of doing everything right, such as being on time.

"We played him on either flank or as a number 10. He had this ability to receive the ball with his back to goal and spin off left or right, then gallop away from you. His cross-country engine meant he just never stopped running."

When the offers from England began to come in, Baxter knew it was only fair that he abandoned his own ambitions and advised his young star on what path to take.

And, when he gets the opportunity to watch him now for Leeds, for whom Dallas signed in 2015, Baxter still finds it difficult to take his manager's hat off.

"I met with him to tell him we had a two-year contract on the table for him from Crusaders, but that Brentford were in for him and that I thought he had to go over there and take it all in.

"When I watch him now for Leeds, I want to see if he is doing everything correctly. Is he making all his passes? Is he making the right runs? You always want him to have a really good game."

Inevitably he does, of course, and Northern Ireland supporters will be hoping that the player who was made in the Irish League shines on the international stage again this week.