NDSL side United in win over Ireland

NO FEWER than 10 Malahide United players were involved as the NDSL Academy Under-15 side that beat the Republic of Ireland Under-15s 1-0 at the Oscar Traynor Centre last Sunday.
The game, organised as a challenge match to raise money and awareness for the charity – Sophia, Inspiring change, ending homelessness – was a real joy to watch at the NDSL after Storm Desmond went away and there was plenty of spectators present in the North Dublin venue.
Sean Bohan, Ciaran Daly, Ben Gaynor, Carl Rooney, Liam McGrath, Callum Buchan, Danny Taafe, Matthew Kinahan, Colm McGrady and Sean O’Connor are all Malahide men and represented the club well on league duty here.
Also donning the NDSL yellow on the day were Donnycarney’s David Okpako, Lusk United’s Davidson Okosun, and Balbriggan’s Onyeka Moore.
It was Okosun’s goal which delivered the win and what a goal it was. On 23 minutes, the talented attacker unleashed a powerful strike from 25 yards which soared past Sam O’Gorman in the Ireland goal.
Okpako had a number of chances to double the lead throughout but was thwarted each time.
The young Irish side, made up of DDSL players as well as some of the rest of the country’s hottest prospects pushed hard to equalise late on.
Bohan was in good form though, first denying Jack Kelly and then doing brilliantly to deny Caelin Rooney on 55 minutes.
Speaking to GazetteSport after the game, Malahide United director of coaching Kevin Craven was delighted to have so many players involved.
“It’s a wonderful achievement for all the players to not only represent their league but to go out and beat an international team,” he said.
“It’s also a great achievement for the coaches of that side, Davy McGrady the manager and Gary Dalton who works with him; they deserve a lot of credit for the hard work they’ve put in to coaching the lads to this standard.
“It’s a good representation of what we’re trying to achieve at the club,” Craven added. “It might be hard to believe but all those players are from what you would call our second team at that age group.
“We have our Under-15 Premier side in the DDSL and then these lads are from our Under-15 Major side.
“We’re striving to have two teams at the top of both leagues, DDSL and NDSL, not just in this age group but right through the club and it’s happening right now with our Under-15s.
“The NDSL academy deserves credit too. The coaches they have working with the clubs are doing great work and our players really enjoy being involved with their representative sides and take a lot from it.”