Kyle Lafferty’s Palermo are all but promoted to Serie A while League of Ireland favourites Anto Flood and Roy O’Donovan were among the goals at the weekend. It’s The Emerald Exiles weekly round-up.
In The Goals
Five Exiles provided six goals in five countries across three continents over the weekend, quite the feat considering the man who is usually relied on to boost the ‘Goals For’ column Robbie Keane was spending his weekend spinning around Las Vegas in a limousine.*
Kicking off proceedings on Friday afternoon, Roy O’Donovan bagged a brace and won a penalty in Brunei DPMM’s 4-1 over Balestier in Singapore’s S League. The former Cork City favourite scored on the stroke of half time and added another in the second and the win keeps them two points off the top of the league. Midfielder Joe Gamble, less renowned for his prowess in front of goal, missed a close range chance early on.
Another former League of Ireland winner on target at the weekend was Anto Flood. A League of Ireland winner just six months ago, Flood turns out for Australian regional side Dunbar Rovers alongside ex-Derry duo Thomas Crawley and Clive Delaney these days and struck the latest of his recent glut in a top-of-the-table clash with Coogee United on Sunday, with Rovers running out 2-0 winners.
In Norway’s Toppserien, Republic of Ireland WNT midfielder Diane Caldwell opened the scoring in Avaldsnes 3-0 win over Valerenga, boosting hopes they can mount a European challenge this season. After last week’s 3-0 win in their season opener, they wasted little time here as Caldwell broke the deadlock on 15 minutes. The right winger took advantage of some static defending and lashed in an emphatic effort with her left foot before being replaced in the second half.
The first Irishman to win promotion in 2014 will be Kyle Lafferty, barring an absolute catastrophe after they moved to within a point of returning to a Serie A at the first attempt thanks to a 3-1 win over Latina. Lafferty scored Palermo’s third in injury time to seal the win (his 12th goal of an impressive season) which moves them within a point of promotion with six games to play.
Elsewhere, Ireland Under 21 forward Selcuk Tidim scored for Hansa Rostock reserves on Sunday but they lost a fourth successive match, 1-2 to BSC Süd 05.
On The March
Barry Maguire’s FC Den Bosch confirmed their play off place last week and on Friday they rounded-off their Ereste Divisie regular season by beating Helmond Sport 2-1. Maguire, 24, helped Den Bosch come from behind to secure their fourth place finish.
They will face Excelsior (familiar to Irish fans for the late 90s goalscoring exploits of one David Connolly) in the playoffs second round of games next week.
After winning the A-League Premiership earlier this month, Brisbane ROAR took a step towards a third championship win in four years on Sunday as they beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 in the championship semi-finals.
Former Ireland midfielder Liam Miller started but faces a race against time to be fit for next week’s final against Western Sydney Wanderers however after he was withdrawn in injury time suffering from a knock.
Louise Quinn’s Eskilstuna United continued their excellent start to the Swedish Damallsvenskan season over the weekend, beating Jitex BK 2-0 to go level on points at the top of the division.
Quinn, set to be named in Sue Ronan’s panel to face Russia at Tallaght Stadium next week, has played every minute so far this term for the newly promoted side and their match on Sunday was played in front of 2,432 people, Eskilstuna’s highest ever attendance. Emma Salomonsson, a Swedish-Irish midfielder and former Ireland call-up, was unused for Jitex.
Recent appearances have been restricted to late cameos for Darren O’Dea of late and it was a similar story for the defender this week. O’Dea was an 89th minute replacement in Metalurh Donetsk’s 2-1 win over Dymano Kiev. While minutes have been hard to come by of late, Metalurh’s late season Europa League charge could spell good news internationally for the exiled centre half.
And (very briefly) The Rest….
There were wins for Richie Ryan’s Ottawa Fury (a first ever victory) in the NASL and Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s PK-35 in Finland’s second tier. O’Shaughnessy signed for the club this week after spending pre-season on trial after his departure from Veikkausliiga side MyPa.
Shane O’Neill’s Colorado Rapids and Conor Powell’s Vard Haugesund fell to defeats in the MLS and Norway’s 2nd division respectively. Rapids went down 3-0 to Seattle Sounders while Powell was carded in Vard’s 2-4 loss.
In Norway, Shannon Smyth’s Amazon Grimstad suffered defeat in the Toppserien but Ruesha Littlejohn’s Sandviken won again to go top of the second tier.
Fiona O’Sullivan was a 61st minute sub in SC Freiburg’s 4-1 win over Hoffenheim. The US-born Ireland striker was denied three times late on by the visiting ‘keeper.
*We’re not being flippant, he really was.
You can follow Emerald Exiles on Twitter and also visit the website.
