O’Grady out to atone for final heartbreak

HAVING to miss last year’s FAI Ford Cup final through suspension got no better for Conor O’Grady.

The hurt of not being able to play looked like being assuaged for the Sligo Rovers’ captain as his team-mates held a 1-0 lead with six minutes to go at Tallaght Stadium.

It was then that the emotional rollercoaster kicked in. Preparations to celebrate were abruptly ended as Sporting Fingal turned the 2009 final on its head in a dramatic finale.

“It was horrible. It’s hard to explain, really,” said O’Grady of last year’s final. A couple of minutes to go, you’re think we’re going to lift the cup, we’ll be celebrating and then it’s taken away from you.

“It was like someone pulled the carpet from under you. I walked from one side of the ground to the other, by the time I walked it we were 2-1 down and when I’d left we were 1-0. I sat with my mates for the game and when I started walking over, the lads were ready to celebrate, run on the pitch, but by the time I got over, it was 2-1. It was kind of a surreal experience, but it’s gone now, there is nothing we can do about it.”

Ironically, suspensions to striker Matt Blinkhorn and, more pertinently in his case, midfield lynchpin Richie Ryan, looks like meaning O’Grady, who has struggled to make the starting XI this season, will now lead out his hometown team against Shamrock Rovers on Sunday for the first final at the Aviva Stadium.

“It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t happen,” O’Grady says of players being suspended for the showpiece.

“I know exactly how the two boys feel and it’s a horrible feeling. It would be great for me to lead the team out in the Aviva, but I genuinely do feel for the two lads.”

O’Grady is grateful for a second chance to play in a final, never mind potentially lift the trophy as skipper.

“Absolutely, because before that, I think I’d lost in about five semi-finals,” agreed O’Grady of the fact his chance might have gone.

“I didn’t think I was going to get to a final and then when we did, I was suspended. You have to grab moments like this because you don’t know when another one will chance along. Play every game as your last game, because you never know when your last game is going to be.”

It’s been a generally frustrating season for O’Grady as he had to watch mostly from the bench as Sligo have evolved into what is regarded as the best footballing team in the country.

But that frustration has been eased by local lad O’Grady witnessing perhaps the best team in the club’s history strut their stuff.

“It’s been hard in one way. But you have to understand the boys have been playing outstandingly, you just have to sit there and applaud and watch, as a Sligo man as well.

“It’s the best team I’ve seen in my lifetime in the Showgrounds and probably, most people would say, the best team that has ever been in the Showgrounds, football wise anyway.

“We’ve played some outstanding football. I think the Bohs game (semi-final) highlighted it because it was on TV. But we’re doing that all year.

“Yes, it’s been hard, you want to play but you just have to be professional and train hard and when you get your chance, take it. And I think when (manager) Paul Cook has picked me, I’ve answered the call.

“I’d like to answer the call Sunday.”