How the Irish fared: John Egan scores as Gillingham put Blades to the sword

The opening weekend of the Championship season was a pretty uneventful one for the Irish.

The campaign kicked-off Friday night with Chris Hughton’s Brighton claiming a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest but Saturday brought a mixture of encouragement and frustration for Mick McCarthy as his Ipswich side cruised into a 2-0 lead before conceding twice in stoppage time to draw 2-2 at Brentford.

“It’s an annoying one and we should have won,” the former Ireland boss said. “We conceded two really poor goals.

“There were chances at both ends and we had the majority of them. We scored two, but should have scored another to put it beyond doubt.

“I’m really delighted by the way we played, I thought we were terrific. It’s a shame that three minutes at the end annoys you like that.

“But I won’t let it blight it because, for an away performance, we were excellent. We just can’t let that happen again.”

Keiren Westwood kept 17 clean sheets in the Championship last season and he started as he means to continue at the weekend as Sheffield Wednesday began their campaign with a 2-0 win over Bristol City.

John Egan played a leading role in the standout result of the weekend in League One, heading home the third goal of the day as Gillingham hammered a fancied Sheffield United side 4-0.

Jay O’Shea cancelled out an early goal from fellow Irishman Conor Wilkinson as Chesterfield came from behind to record a 3-1 win over Barnsley.

Colin Doyle’s Blackpool debut ended prematurely after the Cork-born goalkeeper suffered a shoulder injury in the 2-2 draw at Colchester.

Scunthorpe’s Niall Canavan was also in the wars and manager Mark Robins said the 24-year-old will be out “for months rather than weeks” after he was forced off in the first half of the 2-1 defeat at Burton Albion. “Niall has landed funny from a jump and he has torn his ankle ligaments,” Robins added.

In League Two, John-Joe O’Toole returned to haunt former employers Bristol Rovers as his header silenced the boo-boys and handed Northampton Town a 1-0 victory.

“I got a bit of stick, but it wasn’t anything that I wasn’t expecting in all honesty,” O’Toole said.

Barry Corr scored twice as Cambridge United eased to a comfortable 3-0 win over Newport while a Graham Carey goal helped Plymouth to a 2-0 win at Wimbledon.

In the Scottish Premiership yesterday Adam Rooney converted a penalty won by Willo Flood as Aberdeen beat Kilmarnock 2-0. On Saturday, Graham Cummins came off the bench to rescue a 1-1 draw for St Johnstone against Inverness.