The standard of the NI League is poor. The NI Premiership is probably about Conference South. The top 2-3 sides (Crusaders, Lingfield) might just about survive in L2. All the better players are known to all the scouts. A lot of NI boys will move to England aged 16-17, and then move back to play in NI. They are generally reluctant to try England again. Gavin Whyte was a late developer,, and was not really rated there until his early 20's. Sykes was always known about and many in NI football were puzzled when we bought Whyte ahead of Sykes. It's a small pool of semi pro/pro players, and they will all talk to each other. They will know that Whyte and Sykes have done well with us and enjoy Oxford. Jimmy Magilton has held various positions with the NI FA since 2013, and he has always spoken well of us. I know that Joel Cooper was one of 3-4 in NI that we were looking at. He's at a good age (24) and he knows both Sykes and Whyte from the NI League. Fitness can be an issue when moving from the NI League to pro football in England, one of the reasons Sykes and Whyte made slow ish starts with us.