MARKUS POOM SCORED a goal at Stamford Bridge that will become part of Shamrock Rovers lore, and he already had enough reason to have his head in the clouds.
His strike against Chelsea last night may have been no more than an historic consolation, as the Premier League giants ran out 5-1 winners in the final league phase game of the UEFA Conference League, but it was one he will cherish forever.
When the ball hit the net and the magnitude of the moment hit home, that is when his thoughts instantly turned to his own home in Estonia.
His Bebeto celebration – mimicking cradling a newborn baby – told you all you needed to know. “I could write a movie about it one day, honestly,” Poom said, beaming as he delivered a dramatic synopsis of the last week.
After starting the 3-0 win over Borac at Tallaght Stadium on 12 December, the midfielder was one of the chosen players for doping control. He was the last to emerge and when he returned to the dressing room his phone was hopping with messages.
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But not because of the victory.
His wife Rebeca had gone into labour one month early. “So I bought the first plane ticket to Estonia that I could and yeah, we had a little baby girl born,” Poom says. Matilde arrived safely in the middle of the night.
“I was so anxious. I made the plane as quick as I could, the baby was born as I was in the air so I had two hours of the unknown, wondering if I was I a Dad or not. I was with them for three days and then I flew back to Dublin. I basically done one or two training sessions with the lads, a lot of sleepless nights. But it was well worth it, I think I am very happy to my wife that she let me go, we discussed it.
“If it was any other game I probably would have told the manager that I couldn’t play but this was kind of once in a lifetime and it paid off, to score here is unbelievable. It is just amazing, in general, how life can be very calm and then in the space of a week you have to be mentally strong to go through anything.
“Look, as footballers we have to make a lot of sacrifices and this is a prime example of one of them, I had to sacrifice a lot to be here. So to get to score at Stamford Bridge is worth it. My wife understood, my family has been a huge help just to look after my wife and the baby.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to them. But as an athlete, you take your chances and see if it pays off and I definitely would say that this was one that paid off. That’s my first child. We’re over the moon and I’m really looking forward to getting back to them for Christmas time.”
“In general, you knew you were up against a really tough opponent and the occasion itself, yeah, we gave it a lot of goals away, the errors at this level, they just punish you so quickly. So you can’t make two big errors, we did do that, we’ll analyse it, we did have a lot of positives.
“We showed we can score, we showed we can create chances so the more we get these types of games, we can improve, and go to the next level in our development.”
Whether Poom – who is on loan from Flora Tallinn – will still be at Rovers in February when they return for the start of the 2025 League of Ireland Premier Division and Conference League play-off round will soon be up for discussion.
“We’ll see. I’m scheduled to have talks with the club now and we’ll talk about my future. But right now, I’ve no answer for that,” he said.
Priority number one is to return home to his wife and daughter.
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'I could write a movie about it' - Shamrock Rovers' goal hero on missing birth of first child
MARKUS POOM SCORED a goal at Stamford Bridge that will become part of Shamrock Rovers lore, and he already had enough reason to have his head in the clouds.
His strike against Chelsea last night may have been no more than an historic consolation, as the Premier League giants ran out 5-1 winners in the final league phase game of the UEFA Conference League, but it was one he will cherish forever.
When the ball hit the net and the magnitude of the moment hit home, that is when his thoughts instantly turned to his own home in Estonia.
His Bebeto celebration – mimicking cradling a newborn baby – told you all you needed to know. “I could write a movie about it one day, honestly,” Poom said, beaming as he delivered a dramatic synopsis of the last week.
After starting the 3-0 win over Borac at Tallaght Stadium on 12 December, the midfielder was one of the chosen players for doping control. He was the last to emerge and when he returned to the dressing room his phone was hopping with messages.
But not because of the victory.
His wife Rebeca had gone into labour one month early. “So I bought the first plane ticket to Estonia that I could and yeah, we had a little baby girl born,” Poom says. Matilde arrived safely in the middle of the night.
“I was so anxious. I made the plane as quick as I could, the baby was born as I was in the air so I had two hours of the unknown, wondering if I was I a Dad or not. I was with them for three days and then I flew back to Dublin. I basically done one or two training sessions with the lads, a lot of sleepless nights. But it was well worth it, I think I am very happy to my wife that she let me go, we discussed it.
“If it was any other game I probably would have told the manager that I couldn’t play but this was kind of once in a lifetime and it paid off, to score here is unbelievable. It is just amazing, in general, how life can be very calm and then in the space of a week you have to be mentally strong to go through anything.
“Look, as footballers we have to make a lot of sacrifices and this is a prime example of one of them, I had to sacrifice a lot to be here. So to get to score at Stamford Bridge is worth it. My wife understood, my family has been a huge help just to look after my wife and the baby.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to them. But as an athlete, you take your chances and see if it pays off and I definitely would say that this was one that paid off. That’s my first child. We’re over the moon and I’m really looking forward to getting back to them for Christmas time.”
The emotion of the occasion aside, Poom echoed the frustrations of manager Stephen Bradley about the manner of the “basic” mistakes that made life just that little bit easier for Chelsea.
“In general, you knew you were up against a really tough opponent and the occasion itself, yeah, we gave it a lot of goals away, the errors at this level, they just punish you so quickly. So you can’t make two big errors, we did do that, we’ll analyse it, we did have a lot of positives.
“We showed we can score, we showed we can create chances so the more we get these types of games, we can improve, and go to the next level in our development.”
Whether Poom – who is on loan from Flora Tallinn – will still be at Rovers in February when they return for the start of the 2025 League of Ireland Premier Division and Conference League play-off round will soon be up for discussion.
“We’ll see. I’m scheduled to have talks with the club now and we’ll talk about my future. But right now, I’ve no answer for that,” he said.
Priority number one is to return home to his wife and daughter.
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Chelsea Early early christmas presents markus poom Shamrock Rovers Soccer