Fenlon and Rossiter salute match-winner Murphy

DOUBLE-WINNING Bohemians boss Pat Fenlon hailed Brian Murphy after the goalkeeper’s two saves in the penalty shoot-out – added to a couple of quality stops in the game itself – helped his side to FAI Cup glory at the RDS.

“There no doubt in my mind Brian should be in the international squad,” said Fenlon.

“Shay Given is a top quality keeper but, after that, I think that Brian is better than what has been around in the squad for the last year or two.”

And Mark Rossiter, the only Bohs man to miss from the spot yesterday, admitted that he immediately ran to congratulate Murphy while the rest of his teammates were mobbing Mindaugas Kalonas, the man who had taken the decisive spot kick.

“Brian not only saved me,” said Rossiter, “but he saved the team.”

Claiming that he hadn’t had a good view of two crucial penalty decisions which went against Derry, Fenlon refused to concede that the champions had, in any way, ridden their luck against the Foylesiders.

“I thought the players were brilliant,” he said.

“And I don’t think they have been given the credit they deserve all season. After winning the league, it would have been easy for them to take their foot off the pedal but they never did. It was a fantastic game and, after all the doom and gloom about the league, a great showpiece to end the season.”

Stephen Kenny shared his counterpart’s thoughts about the quality of the game but, not surprisingly, had much more forthright views on some of the more contentious refereeing decisions in the final.

Asked if he felt hard done by, the Derry boss replied: “Absolutely, without a doubt I do. Two key decisions were wrong – we should have had a penalty and they shouldn’t have had one. Sammy Morrow should have definitely had a penalty – it was just an awkward, clumsy challenge by the Bohs player. And then the one given against him was extremely harsh. It was clearly ball to hand and I just can’t see how it could be given.

“But while I’m disappointed we lost, I thought my players were outstanding. To be fair, Bohs, who are a formidable team, were excellent as well and both sides contributed to a very good game. Either side might have won it in extra time but some of our football was outstanding and I still can’t quite believe that we haven’t won it. But such are the margins.”