Madden on mark as Yeovil go up

Irish players formed central parts in the play- off victories of two sides at the weekend.

Yeovil Town won promotion to the Championship, with a 2-1 play-off final win over Brentford, at Wembley yesterday.

Irish striker Paddy Madden scored the opening goal for Yeovil with a superb outside of the boot effort. The underdogs added a second before half-time through Dan Burn and, despite a Harlee Dean header on 51 minutes, it was enough to see them into English football’s second tier.

Kevin Dawson, another young Irish player, also starred in midfield for Yeovil.

“We all visualised winning at Wembley and that’s what we did,” said manager Gary Johnson. “My dreams have come true. Of course it means so much to me. Any achievement like this is fantastic. In football this is what you are in it for, especially when you’ve built it all up for 50-odd games and nine months.

“It has brought us closer together and made the club bigger and I am just very proud of the football club.

“It ranks very highly and sometimes you think this only happens to other people.”

Meanwhile, Bradford City won promotion to League One after defeating Northampton 3-0 in the play-off final on Saturday.

Goals from James Hanson, Rory McArdle and Nahki Wells earned Bradford promotion to League One in an entertaining clash.

Donegal’s Carl McHugh, who played such a vital role in their drive to the Capital One Cup final, was on the bench for Bradford, while former Cork City striker Roy O’Donovan featured for Northampton.