Soccer digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Irwin gets trial

OLDHAM are giving a trial to Liam Irwin, the teenage son of Latics and Manchester United legend Denis.

The 19-year-old midfielder, capped by the Republic of Ireland at under-19 level, is currently at Bolton but played the second half of Oldham’s reserve team clash against Wrexham at Chapel Road yesterday afternoon.

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McAlevey hits late winner

ALL-IRELAND SCHOOLBOYS' FINAL ST AIDAN'S, CORK 3 MALAHIDE CS 2:ANTHONY McAlevey's 85th-minute winner at Tallaght Stadium yesterday secured St Aidan's their first Umbro FAI Schools' Dr Tony O'Neill Boys national cup title.

The striker settled the thriller against Malahide CS by swivelling on a left-wing cross from Alan Hosford before prodding the ball past goalkeeper Kevin Dunne.

Malahide’s first-half dominance yielded a 37th-minute opener as Colm Curtis beat Chris Mullane in the Saints’ goal with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

The tie erupted into life once Gary Buckley equalised with a header on 58 minutes. St Aidan’s then went in front two minutes later when Hosford’s shot found the net via the back post.

A minute later, Malahide made it 2-2 through Dylan Cashin’s penalty but they lost substitute Jamie Walsh to a straight red card for violent conduct following an altercation as his team-mate prepared to take the spot-kick.

Extra-time was looming when McAlevey struck his second but it needed a superb save by Mullane from Cashin’s volley two minutes from the finish to preserve St Aidan’s’ lead.

ST AIDAN’S: C Mullane; S O’Callaghan (P McCauliff 39), K Allen, G Gould (R Meaney 85), C Long; E Kearney, G Buckley, D Murphy, C Boyle (S Waters 59); A McAlevey, A Hosford.

MALAHIDE: K Dunne; J Ferguson, F Cahill, C Callaghan, C Curtis; E Harold, S Woods, M Brennan (J Walsh 58 mins), C McGahon; D Cashin, C Mullarkey.

Referee: Brian Whelan (Dublin).

REPUBLIC of Ireland under-17 manager John Morling has a full squad to choose from for today’s opening Uefa elite stage qualifier against Serbia in Eindhoven (5.0pm)

Manchester United striker Sam Byrne has shaken off an ankle strain to be declared fit and will start in attack alongside Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.

IRELAND U-17 (probable): Grimes (Leeds); Long (Cherry Orchard), McFadden (Norwich), O’Reilly (Stoke), Lewis (Aston Villa); Hayes (Derby), Leddy (Ipswich), O’Neill (Wolves); Byrne (Manchester Utd), Wilkinson (Millwall), Grealish (Aston Villa).

Zayed the hero once again

LESS THAN two months after Eamon Zayed scored a hat-trick for Persepolis in the Tehran derby the former Derry City striker has done it again.

Zayed hit the first three goals in front of more than 80,000 spectators as Persepolis beat UAE side Al-Shebab 6-1 in the Asian Champions League.

Zayed shot to prominence in Iran early in February when, with Persepolis 2-0 down, he came on late in the game against local rivals Esteghlal and scored three goals.

Connolly hits hat-trick in Tallaght

ALL-IRELAND SCHOOLGIRLS' FINAL/CHRIST THE KING, CORK 5 MOVILLE CC 2:MEGAN CONNOLLY struck a hat-trick yesterday at Tallaght Stadium to help Christ The King secure the Senior Girls' All-Ireland Cup for the second time in three years.

Moville were rocked by two Connolly goals inside the opening three minutes and another Irish underage international star, Amanda Budden, headed home on 13 minutes to make it 3-0.

Sarah-Jane McDonald pulled a goal back shortly after the interval though Laura O’Brien restored the three-goal cushion on 56 minutes.

Eight minutes later, McDonald reacted well to turn the ball home but any prospect of a late comeback vanished on 75 minutes as Connolly completed her hat-trick.

CHRIST THE KING: C Nunan; O Murphy (M Dennehy 67), M Murphy, A Fox, N Connolly, A Budden, L Cooney, N McGreevy, L O’Brien (K Leneghan 79), M Connolly, S Geaney.

MOVILLE CC: L McLaughlin; R Henry, M McDermott, C McDermott, K McLaughlin, S McDonald (K McNaught 60), E Lafferty, R McLaughlin, O Farren (N McDermott 55), S J McDonald, A McLaughlin (C Grant 78).

Referee: N Valentini (Dublin).

Muamba was 'effectively dead' for 78 minutes

BOLTON HAVE confirmed their scheduled Premier League meeting with Blackburn on Saturday will go ahead, as it was revealed Fabrice Muamba was “effectively dead” for 78 minutes following his cardiac arrest at Tottenham last Saturday.

With Muamba making quicker progress than anyone could have expected following the dramatic events at White Hart Lane, manager Owen Coyle spoke with his players yesterday morning to see if they wanted to face Blackburn at the weekend.

The answer was positive, while Bolton will also head back to Tottenham on Tuesday to play the rearranged FA Cup quarter-final that had to be abandoned by referee Howard Webb after Muamba’s collapse.

Bolton team doctor Jonathan Tobin revealed some startling details has spoke for the first time about the efforts that were made to save Muamba’s life.

After working on Muamba for 48 minutes before his arrival at hospital, Dr Tobin confirmed the player continued to receive treatment for 30 minutes before his heart showed signs of activity.

“In effect he was dead in that time,” Dr Tobin said. “Fabrice was in a type of cardiac arrest where the heart is showing lots of electrical activity but no muscular activity.

“It’s something that often responds to drugs and shocks.

“Now heaven knows why, but Fabrice had, in total, 15 shocks. He had a further 12 shocks in the ambulance.”