http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/
THE fear of sectarian attacks has forced the father of a Drogheda United under-17 player to deny his son the opportunity to avail of trials with Glasgow Rangers.Darius Kierans, manager of the Drogheda team, was approached by a Rangers scout both during and after the summer Foyle Cup tournament in Derry, where 17-year-old Pete McMahon scored the winning goal in the plate finalBy Marcus Cavaroli
THE fear of sectarian attacks has forced the father of a Drogheda United under-17 player to deny his son the opportunity to avail of trials with Glasgow Rangers.
Darius Kierans, manager of the Drogheda team, was approached by a Rangers scout both during and after the summer Foyle Cup tournament in Derry, where 17-year-old Pete McMahon scored the winning goal in the plate final against English professional side Bournemouth.
The Scottish giants wanted to offer young Pete a trial, but when Kierans rang the boy’s father Paddy with the ‘good news’ he didn’t get the response he might have expected.
‘It would be a bigger honour if it was Celtic,’ Paddy told the Drogheda Independent this week. ‘But although Pete is a big Celtic and Man United fan, he was very happy when I told him and he would love to go.
‘But we live in Castleblayney, three miles south of the border, which is very awkward. We haven’t been victims ourselves, but there’s a serious sectarian problem where we are.
‘At the end of the day, it’s only football and people would be robbing the house if he went to Rangers.’
The McMahon family returned to County Monaghan in 1999 after 34 years in England, where young Pete had a trial with Blackburn Rovers and once scored 57 goals in a single season for Evergreen, an underage club in Watford where he was born.
After spells with Monaghan United and Dundalk, the youngster changed clubs again, opting for Drogheda as it gave him the opportunity of playing Premier Division football in the Dublin & District League.