Hoops end 32-year wait for FAI Cup

[team1]Dundalk [/team1][score1]1[/score1][team2]Shamrock Rovers[/team2][score2]1[/score2][/score]

(Rovers win 4-2 on penalties)

Shamrock Rovers have ended 32 years of hurt by beating Dundalk in the 2019 FAI Cup Final at the Aviva Stadium.

With the game locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, extra time couldn’t separate the two sides and, for the fifth time since 2008, the final went to penalties.

Rovers had lost to Sligo Rovers in a shoot-out in 2010, infamously missing all four of their penalties.

But, this time, they did the exact opposite, Jack Byrne, Joey O’Brien and Greg Bolger all finding the net and, after Michael Duffy had rattled the crossbar for Dundalk and Daniel Cleary had seen his effort saved by the veteran Alan Mannus – the ‘keeper who’d been on the losing side nine years ago – it fell to Gary O’Neill to coolly stroke home the spot kick which finally brought the Hoops’ long delayed 'drive for 25' to fruition.

The wait is over. Shamrock Rovers have won the #FAICup https://t.co/3OeMqqfxm4 #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/6VbiC2O47g

— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) November 3, 2019

And after an absorbing final, in which they appeared to have won and then lost the cup, Stephen Bradley’s team surely deserved to edge it against the side seeking to become the first since Derry in 1989 to complete the domestic treble.

Over the course of the regulation 90 minutes, Rovers had largely bossed possession, with Irish international Jack Byrne pulling all the strings in midfield, though they still had nothing to show for their dominance where it mattered most, on the scoreboard.

Perhaps it was the creeping effects of fatigue coupled with an awareness of how fine the margin now was between victory and defeat but as the game entered the final 15 minutes of regulation time, it became a more scrappy, stop-start affair before, right at the death, exploding into life.

Graham Burke, having spurned a couple of decent chances, thought he’d played a major part in creating Rovers’ moment of deliverance, first skipping past Brian Gartland and then slipping in Aaron Greene who, as he attempted to take the ball around Gary Rogers at pace, was brought down by the ‘keeper.

Up stepped Aaron McEneff to do the needful with only a minute left on the clock, the Rovers fans erupting in joy as the ball hit the back of the net, the holy grail now so close they could almost touch it.

But serial trophy winners that they are, Dundalk weren’t yet ready to give up a crown, Michael Duffy capitalising on some uncertain defending deep into injury time to flash a superb half-volley to the back of the net in the 93rd minute to stun Rovers and send the game into extra time.

But with the added 30 minutes failing to separate the two sides – Alan Mannus, even before his shoot-out heroics, having come to his team's rescue with a terrific save from Georgie Kelly with a minute remaining - the 2019 FAI Cup Final approached its dramatic climax by putting Rovers and Dundalk on the spot. And, in the final analysis, the Hoops were not found wanting.

Dundalk: Rogers, Gannon, Gartland, Cleary, Massey; Hoare (G Kelly 90), Benson (Mountney 112); McGrath, Murray (D Kelly60), Duffy; Hoban (Flores 99)

Shamrock Rovers: Mannus, O'Brien, Lopes, Grace, Finn, McEneff, O’Neill, S Kavanagh (Farrugia 67) Byrne, Greene (Lafferty 111), Burke (Bolger 91)