May 21st
English League One
Blackpool are through to the League One play-off final after beating Oxford United 6-3 on aggregate. The second leg ended all square at 3-3 with both Olamide Shodipo and Anthony Forde involved in Oxford’s goals. Forde assisted the second goal of the game, while Shodipo scored an equalizer in the 74th minute but by then the tie was over and Blackpool were on their way to Wembley.
Australian A-League
Down under, Jay O’Shea scored at either end in Brisbane Roar’s 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets. The striker put one in his own net on the hour mark before grabbing the winner with a deflected effort in the 73rd minute.
May 22nd
English Championship
Swansea City, with Ryan Manning and Conor Hourihane, are on their way to the lucrative Championship play-off final after beating Barnsley 2-1 on aggregate. Hourihane started in the 1-1 draw that cemented their progress.
Meanwhile Shane Long was a late substitute for 10-men Bournemouth who were chasing a late equalizer against Brentford but ran out of time. Brentford won the tie 3-2 over the two legs and will meet Swansea in the final.
English League One
Lincoln City will join Blackpool in the play-off final after they scored in the second half against Sunderland to confirm their place at Wembley. Sunderland scored two goals in the first-half, both goals coming from an Aiden McGeady cross but Lincoln upper their game after half-time to hold onto their aggregate lead. Anthony Scully’s afternoon lasted 45 minutes before he was substituted at the interval.
MLS
LA Galaxy suffered a 3-0 away defeat to Portland Timbers on Saturday. Derrick Williams was shown a straight red card on the stroke of half-time when his team were still drawing 0-0. Portland went on to score three goals in the second-half.
May 23rd
English Premier League
Sunday marked the end of the Premier League season. Eleven Irish players featured on the final day.
David McGoldrick ended the season with a goal, his eight of the campaign. Sheffield United’s Players’ Player of the Season found the bottom corner with a well-placed finish after being set up by Enda Stevens. John Egan captained the Blades while Jimmy Dunne started his third game of the season for Burnley in the 1-0 defeat.
Elsewhere, there were starts for Matt Doherty in Spurs’ 4-2 win over Leicester City. The win means they finish 7th and qualify for the Europa Conference League. There were also starts for James McCarthy for Crystal Palace in their defeat to Liverpool, and Dara O’Shea and Callum Robinson as West Brom bowed out of the league with a defeat away to Leeds United.
Jeff Hendrick and Michael Obafemi had late cameos from the bench in their respective games.
League Two
In the fourth tier theew was play-off joy for Liam McAlinden and Morecambe who drew with Tranmere Rovers 1-1 in the second-leg to make it 2-1 on aggregate. McAlinden set up Aaron Wildig to score inside the opening 10 minutes. Lee O’Connor played his final game for Tranmere as they bowed out of the play-offs. He will return to parent club Celtic ahead of next season.
Dominic Bernard’s Forest Green Rovers’ game against Padraig Amond’s Newport County went to extra-time after neither team could be separated in normal time. Newport scored with one minute left on the clock to clinch their place in the League Two play-off final. They will go up against Morecambe for a spot in League One next season.
Belgian Pro League
Josh Cullen’s Anderlecht side will have to settle for a place in the Europa Conference League next season after they lost to Royal Antwerp by one goal to nil.
May 25th
Australian A-League
Jay O’Shea made it three goals in two games after he scored a brace against Melbourne City on Tuesday. Brisbane Roar won the game 3-0.