Shae Cahill has made a memorable A-League Men debut for Brisbane Roar, as his famous father Tim watched from the stands at Suncorp Stadium.
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On the day Cahill senior was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder came agonisingly close to scoring in the Roar's 2-2 draw with Western Sydney.
Introduced into the fray in the 75th minute, the teenager's late strike was headed for the back of the net until a desperate Lawrence Thomas produced a spectacular save to deny him.
Cahill spent four years in the Everton academy system and was signed this year by the Brisbane Roar.
Socceroos legend Tim, who had a glittering career at the Toffees, always had a great sense of timing on the pitch and showed it again on Friday.
After being inducted and then fulfilling his media duties in Melbourne at lunch time on Friday, Tim was on a plane to Brisbane.
He arrived before thunderstorms and lightning postponed play and was at the ground to watch his son.
Roar coach Ross Aloisi, who is backing the youngsters in his side, was impressed with Cahill.
"He was very good and he had a massive chance to score that goal. It was an amazing save by Lawrence Thomas," Aloisi said.
"He got himself into a goal scoring opportunity that we see in training quite a bit.
"Shae is a very good finisher and I am pleased for him. I am pleased for all players that come in and try and do their best within our playing style."
The next generation of A-League stars with well-known names thanks to their Socceroos forebearers are making their mark.
Kristian Popovic, son of Tony, is with Macarthur FC while Kane Vidmar, son of Tony and nephew of Aurelio, is at Western United.
Brisbane also have 16-year-old striker Rylan Brownlie, son of former Roar striker Royce Brownlie in their squad.
Brownlie came on at the same time as Cahill against Western Sydney and put the ball in the back of the net in injury time for what would have been the winner, but he was correctly ruled offside.
Australian Associated Press
