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Top three Irish performances from the weekend – Bazunu’s brilliance and Thompson’s treble

Southampton's Gavin Bazunu saves from Manchester United's Raphael Varane Expand

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Southampton's Gavin Bazunu saves from Manchester United's Raphael Varane

Southampton's Gavin Bazunu saves from Manchester United's Raphael Varane

Southampton's Gavin Bazunu saves from Manchester United's Raphael Varane

Sean O'Connor

The Ireland shot stopper produced one of his best performances of the season at Old Trafford on Sunday, keeping a clean sheet against Manchester United.

Gavin Bazunu - Southampton

The 21-year-old pulled off four fine saves on the scoreless draw, including a stunning stop to deny Bruno Fernandes from the edge of the box. It’s now three clean sheets in his last four games, Bazunu’s best spell to date in what has been a challenging season for the Saints.

Ruben Selles’ side are still rock bottom after the draw, but they are now two points off safety ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Brentford.

“A few months ago we would have lost this game. Hopefully this can give us some momentum to keep building from,” said Bazunu, who was also named as the club’s Player of the Match after the draw.

"You see from today's performance that we can perform against any team in this league and we just need to continue.”

Dara O’Shea - West Brom

The Ireland centre-back was imperious again as the Baggies made it back-to-back 1-0 wins against Huddersfield on Saturday.

The 24-year-old has played every single minute of league action for West Brom so far this term, and impressed at the weekend as they rose to eight in the Championship, three points off the play-offs.

O’Shea made the most passes in the match (83) with an 89pc completion rate.

The former St Kevin’s Boys player also won all of his tackles, made three successful dribbles, four key interceptions and played 14 passes into the final third.

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West Brom face Cardiff City on Wednesday and will be looking to make it three successive wins ahead of the international break.

Jaime Thompson - Shamrock Rovers

Thompson hit a stunning hat-trick as the Hoops marked their first game back at Tallaght Stadium with a 6-0 win over Treaty United.

The Ireland U-19 cap hit three strikes in 20 minutes before Lauren Kelly hit the sixth to make it back-to-back wins for Collie O’Neill’s side.

Over 800 spectators witnessed Shamrock Rovers’ first game back in Tallaght after a nine-year absence, with academy product Thompson also earning Player of the Match.

The Hoops face a trip to Tolka Park next Saturday to take on back-to-back champions Shelbourne in a top of the tabe clash which is live on TG4.

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