Drogheda United shining bright in EA SPORTS LOI Academy
By Tomás O'Conchubhair
With 67 minutes gone at Weavers Park on Friday evening, the home side Drogheda United led their opponents, Cork based Munster Senior League outfit Wilton United by six goals to nil.
Fourth official Glen Geraghty raised his board to signal the departure of Drogheda United number ten Douglas James Taylor - the on-loan Walsall striker having netted a hat trick in his second Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup outing. In his place came Bridel Bosakani, an Academy striker who joined the club from Sligo Rovers ahead of the 2024 season. The 20-year-old, without a senior league minute to his name at the club so far, went on to net a hat- trick in the subsequent 23 minutes before lining out at DIFE the next morning to face UCD’s EA SPORTS LOI Academy MU20 side.
Once again, he found the net and was replaced at half-time to round off a successful weekend by 11.45am on a Saturday morning! Despite having not yet featured in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division, Friday night wasn’t the first time Bosakani found the net for the senior side as his three goals in three Leinster Senior Cup appearances for the Boynesiders contributed handsomely to their route to the semi-final.
Last weekend is not the first time he has gone on a goalscoring streak as, in his final league games for the Sligo Rovers EA SPORTS LOI Academy MU19 team, he scored on three consecutive weekends before netting six goals across four league games in a row for Drogheda United MU20s across April and May of this year.
The Drogheda United MU20 team currently sit top of Tier One of the EA SPORTS LOI Academy MU19 league table - having won all six of their games in this first round of fixtures. They are under the tutelage of Gavin Fleming, who experienced Shield success with the Boynesiders MU19 team a couple of years ago - a group which contained, amongst others, Killian Phillips, Jordan Adeyemo and current Drogheda United forward Killian Cailloce.
18-year-old Cailloce has racked up over 200 minutes of senior league football for the Drogs this season, as well as netting nine goals in his eleven league games so far this season for the U20s. Like his teammate Bosakani, he is on a goalscoring streak - netting a goal in each of their past three games (against Waterford, Wexford and UCD respectively).
That UCD fixture featured a mix of senior players Matthew O’Brien (21 years old) and Aaron McNally (23) picking up minutes as they seek a return to the first team, recent recruits Sean McCarthy (18 yo from Bohemians) and Sam Case (17 yo from Dundalk) and the aforementioned Cailloce and Bosakani who straddle the MU20 and first team’s matchday squad. Many others who featured in that fixture, and throughout the MU20 campaign were part of the Drogheda United MU19 team last season who finished in the lower reaches of the division come season’s end.
Next weekend, they face a St Patrick’s Athletic side in the Enda McGuill Cup who put them out of the competition last year. 19-year-old James Byrne was in Saints’ colours in 2023 while this year he’s in the maroon and blue of Drogheda, making his senior league debut in the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in June - a game which also saw Evan Haddock’s maiden senior league outing and Emre Topcu (currently on loan at Longford Town) play his first Premier Division minutes of the season for the club.
While the first team are currently at the foot of the table, the strong connection between the Academy and the first team has paid dividends for an increasing number of young players over the years- some of whom have signed from other Academy sides such as William Hondermarck, currently at Northampton Town, Emmanuel Adegboyega, currently at Dundee Utd on loan from Norwich City, while others such as goalkeepers Fiachra Pagel (Forest Green Rovers), Andrew Wogan (Stockport County), Joshua Seberry (Newport County) and Killian Philips (Crystal Palace) came through the Drogheda United Academy itself.
These aforementioned have all passed through the club since the creation of the ONE Academy, originally under the guidance of Head of Youth Morgan Hughes and now guided by John Donohoe, brother of ROI Under 15 manager Jason. This programme placed an emphasis on collaboration with players, clubs and coaches in the Drogheda community with more information available here.
Bosakani may have grabbed the headlines last weekend, but you can be sure he won’t be the last Drogheda United prospect to make a mark at first team level or beyond.
