Nicky Byrne’s return to the football pitch nets results

NICKY Byrne made a winning start to his football career with Baldoyle Grange United earlier this month in a 5-3 victory over Usher Celtic. 

The former Westlife star turned goalkeeper has signed for the local amateur football club who appear to have made the signing of the season.  

Baldoyle boy Byrne is no stranger to football, having signed as a professional goalkeeper for Leeds United and represented Ireland at Under 15, 16 and 18 levels.

He played for Home Farm and St Kevin’s Boys before going professional in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997.

He played for Leeds for two years until June, 1997.

He said: “I am delighted to return to my roots in Baldoyle. It’s a fantastic club with great facilities and super coaching.”    

The club, who play in the AUL, were recently awarded Community Club of the Year by both the Football Association of Ireland and Fingal County Council.

They were obviously delighted with their new star signing as they Tweeted: ‘Delighted to announce our final signing for the season @NickyByrne Just before the deadline #BGUFC @BaldoyleUtd’, on their official Twitter account when the news first broke.

The club has teams at all age levels for both boys and girls. Visit www.baldoyleunited.com or email [email protected] for more details.   

It also has academies for boys and girls age 4-9 every Saturday morning at 10am on its astro pitch in Baldoyle.

Meanwhile, the star is keeping his 2FM fans happy as he is still joining Jenny Greene every day from 10-1pm on his radio show.