• Home
  • /
  • Football
  • /
  • Three Ireland Youngsters Help Blackburn To Club's Biggest Ever Away Win

Three Ireland Youngsters Help Blackburn To Club's Biggest Ever Away Win

PJ Browne
By PJ Browne
Share this article

Blackburn Rovers won 8-0 away to Harrogate Town in the second round of the League Cup on Wednesday night. It is the biggest ever away victory in the 148-year history of the club.

Three young Ireland underage internationals contributed to the record win.

19-year-old Dubliner Andrew Moran - who is on loan at Blackburn from Brighton - set up John Buckley for his side's third goal of the game in the 34th minute.

In the 67th minute, 20-year-old Zak Gilsenan - once a trainee with Barcelona - scored a superb free kick to make it 6-0. Gilsenan was born in Australia to Irish parents. He has represented both Australia and Ireland at underage level. It was recently reported that the FAI are confident that Gilsenan will stick with Ireland.

Five minutes after Gilsenan's goal, Tom Bloxham - who was making his Blackburn debut after joining from Spurs during the summer - made it 7-0. The 18-year-old has played for both England and Ireland at underage level. He was part of an Ireland U19s training camp earlier this year.

Jake Garrett, Sam Gallagher, Dilan Markanday, James Edmondson were the other goal scorers while Buckley got his second of the game from the penalty spot

"It’s incredibly rare to score that amount of goals in a competitive game," Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson told the club's website.

Recommended

"We all know if you don’t take these games very seriously you can lose them.

"There have already been a lot of upsets in the cup this season. We did it ourselves last season at West Ham and Leicester.

Advertisement

"I think the performance was extremely mature, extremely professional and the key to the game was of course starting with intensity, and we did that.

"We played forward, we were on the front foot, we scored some great goals, you could see the things we’ve been working on in pre-season in the final third – quick play, our principles, all the right things.

"Seven different goalscorers, a clean sheet as well. I would love to have had 10 goals, but eight is brilliant and some of the goals were really beautiful.

Advertisement

"For me as a head coach, it’s important to see an identity of a team. I want to be dominant with and without the ball, and I think we saw that today.

"I think we saw our principles as well. You can talk about it, but you want to see it in the games, which is the most difficult thing, and I think the boys did that really well.

"It was a very mature performance from an extremely young side. It was also good to see all those first starts and first minutes, and some of them also got their first goal, so it’s been a lovely night for those young lads."

Advertisement

See Also: Ex-Ireland Player Thinks Lack Of Support For Vera Pauw 'Says It All'

moran gilsenan bloxham ireland blackburn record away win

Head over to Carlsberg's socials to check out the #CarlsbergSavesChristmas giveaways, where you could win some incredible prizes throughout the festive season!: https://www.instagram.com/CarlsbergIreland

Join The Monday Club Have a tip or something brilliant you wanted to share on? We're looking for loyal Balls readers free-to-join members club where top tipsters can win prizes and Balls merchandise

Processing your request...

You are now subscribed!

Share this article

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com

Advertisement