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McGoldrick celebrates his opening goal. Rui Vieira/NMC Pool/PA Wire
Off the Mark

'Here I am, living my dream' - Ireland's McGoldrick toasts his first Premier League goals in Chelsea win

Two years ago, McGoldrick was without a club and to go on trial at Sheffield United.

IRISH INTERNATIONAL DAVID McGoldrick toasted a dream come true as he registered his first Premier League goals in Sheffield United’s 3-0 dismantling of Chelsea this afternoon. 

McGoldrick has scored for the Blades in the FA Cup this season but prior to today, he had yet to register a league goal, having previously been denied one against Spurs as VAR spotted a razor-thin offside infringement in the build-up. 

He wasn’t to be denied today, however, and scored the first and third of United’s goals in a win that lifts them to sixth place in the table. 

McGoldrick won the Man of the Match award, and told Sky Sports after the game of how he has realised a couple of long-held dreams this season. 

“It means the world. I made my debut when I was 16 and still in school. Everyone’s dream is to play in the Premier League, and I’ve made that dream this season. My second dream was to score.

“Two years ago I got released from Ipswich Town, I didn’t know where I was going to be. I got a trial at Sheffield United, then won promotion and Player of the Year, and now here I am, living my dream.” 

It’s been a remarkable transformation. He was absent from the Irish international squad for all of 2018, a year in which his contract expired at Ipswich Town and he was briefly left without a club and looking anxiously at his phone.

Eventually Sheffield United called to take him on trial, and once he had proven his fitness to the club, he was given a contract. From there he led their promotion chase, and now they are on the cusp of qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history. 

The Blades are now sixth, which should be good enough for a place in the Europa League if Arsenal don’t win the FA Cup. The Champions League is not entirely out of their sights, either: if Manchester City lose their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday morning, then fifth place will be good enough to qualify for the biggest tournament of them all. 

Manager Chris Wilder has always declined to talk openly about the prospect of European qualification, and McGoldrick chose the same option when asked about it on Sky Sports. 

“If I say anything else I’ll get a bollocking from the gaffer, so I’m just going to agree with what the gaffer says!” 

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