Cillian Sheridan scored his first competitive goal for APOEL Nicosia on Saturday, while there were big wins for Barry Maguire’s Den Bosch and Selcuk Tidim’s Hansa Rostock too on a largely positive week for the Irish abroad. It really kicked off in style though, on Friday evening.
Regular readers of this column will know all about Kevin Walker. The GIF Sundsvall midfielder, whose former Republic of Ireland Under 21 cap father Pat hails from Carlow, has taken Sweden’s Pop Idol by storm this year and we’ve been following his progress closely.
On Friday, the nomadic young player did the unthinkable. He only went and won. Singing U2’s ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, a John Mayer track and dueting with Robbie Williams on his new single ‘Shine My Shoes’, Walker won the public phone vote to land a Universal Music recording contract.
A professional footballer, a pop career, thousands of adoring female fans. All seems rosy in the garden, but now Walker has a decision to make. Balancing his football commitments with appearing in a talent contest is one thing, but now with an album and tour to come, surely something has to give.
Last week, GIF Sundsvall manager Roger Franzen, who supported Walker throughout the show, said, “Idol was a novelty. But he has a contract with us. Our pre-season begins on January 6. We are at the elite level and we always practice.”
Hoddle and Waddle did it. Andy Cole even managed a brief music career whilst playing under Sir Alex Ferguson. Can Walker mirror their success? You can watch him perform the Idol single ‘Belong’ below. It’s very Eurovision-y.
On the pitch, it was a good weekend for Cillian Sherian too. The striker from Bailieborough scored his first goal for APOEL Nicosia in their 2-0 away win over Ethnikos Achna in the Cypriot First Division.
The 24-year-old was an 87th minute substitute and produced a close range finish in the third minute of stoppage time to seal APOEL’s victory and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games.
The goal is a long awaited one for the former Celtic forward. The strike was his first competitive goal for his new club and his first goal in 2013, which includes a barren end to his time with Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League last season.
If Carlsberg done right foot tap ins. Clinical from 1 yard! Now for more
— Cillian Sheridan (@CillianSheridan) December 7, 2013
Elsewhere, Selcuk Tidim scored again for Hansa Rostock’s second side as they climbed to third in the Nord-Nordost Oberliga thanks to a 10-0 (read it, TEN-NIL) victory at home to BSV Hürtürkel.
Republic of Ireland Under 21 cap Tidim, who was born in Germany to a Turkish father and Irish mother, scored Rostock’s fifth goal shortly before half time. The 21 year old was replaced on 63 minutes as Hansa, now the division’s top scorers, ran riot.
Barry Maguire will be a name familiar too many of you. Now playing in the Dutch second tier with boyhood club FC Den Bosch, the midfielder helped his side to a 1-0 win over his former side VVV Venlo on Saturday.
The win was Den Bosch’s third successive win, the first time they’ve managed such a run this season. It’s lifted them to 14th in the Eerste Divisie, just fourth points off the top six. A prolonged run of good form could lift their into promotion contention come the season’s end.
Maguire couldn’t managed a goal against his old team at Den Bosch’s BrainWash Stadium (me neither) but did see a free kick hit the post before half time and a late effort fly wide. He did go into the referees book however, for a challenge of former teammate Yuki Otsu.
Exiles In Brief
In Germany, Patrick Kohlmann managed to get another 90 minutes under his belt but the left back could do nothing to half Union Berlin’s alarming slide down the Bundesliga 2 table. They went down 1-2 to 1860 Munchen, their fourth loss on the bounce.
As expected, Spartak Moscow ended their pre-winter break campaign without Aiden McGeady, beating Rostov 1-0 thanks to a late Majeed Waris goal. Republic of Ireland winger McGeady has been training with the club’s reserves after a bust-up with manager Valeri Karpin.
A calf injury again kept Liam Lawrence out of contention for PAOK Salonika, the midfielder missing their 0-0 draw with Apollon Smirnis. It’s the second time a calf complaint has kept Lawrence out this term.
The seemingly out of favour Sean Tse was an unused substitute as South Chin beat Rangers 3-1 in the Canbo Senior Shield on Friday morning.
Republic of Ireland senior women’s interational Fiona O’Sullivan came off the bench for SC Freiburg on Sunday but couldn’t find a winner in their 1-1 with SGS Essen.
Another striker making a late cameo appearance this weekend was Kyle Lafferty. The former Burnley striker was a 76th minute entrant as Palermo missed a chance to go top of Italy’s Serie B with a 1-1 draw with Lanciano.
Liam Miller returned from a six week lay off for Brisbane Roar in their 2-1 win over Adelaide United, playing the last 35 minutes in midfield as Roar extended their lead at the top of the A-League.
Player-manager Brian Shelley played 90 minutes as Waitakere United drew 2-2 with Hawkes Bay United in New Zealand’s ASB Premiership. The former Bohemians defender saw his team go come from behind to lead, before a late strike denied them victory.
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