Fairytale continues despite agonising cup defeat
Heartbreaking. Gut-wrenching. A nightmare. Cruel. Just some of the words used by the Dundalk players at the fulltime whistle at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
Those words were all emotions felt equally by the fans as Cork City snatched the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup with a scrappy winner from Sean Maguire in stoppage time at the end of extra-time.
It was the cruelest of ways to lose a game and not what Dundalk deserved given their efforts over the preceding 120 minutes. Despite all their matches and travelling of late, this being their 23rd match in 75 days, they were still going strong right at the end with Cork looking the more fatigued as the game approached what looked like the inevitable conclusion of a penalty shoot-out.
Then came Steven Beattie’s throw into the box with Maguire managing to turn to get a shot away. It came off the inside of Brian Gartland’s left leg to take it away from Gary Rogers and trickled, almost in slow motion to the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
The Dundalk players crashed to the ground in despair in scenes almost reminiscent of the Leinster Final of 2010 when Louth were dealt an equally cruel suckerpunch by Meath. The nature of Maguire’s winner may not have been as controversial – although there were suspicions of a shove on Ronan Finn before it – but the hurt was the same.
After all Stephen Kenny’s side have achieved, they didn’t deserve this.
It would have been easier to take had you lost on penalties but football can be brutal at times and Dundalk were reminded of that in the harshest possible way on Sunday.
Having only returned from Russia two days earlier, they put in a monumental shift over 120 minutes and for the most part dominated the possession and chances.
Cork basically didn’t play for the opening half and while they did manage to put a decent spell together on the restart, they were out on their feet by the finish.
While they had a couple of half chances to snatch it in the second half, when Sean Gannon headed Alan Bennett’s header off the line and when Rogers saved brilliantly from substitute Chiedozie Ogbene, it was virtually only Dundalk who looked likely to break the deadlock in extra-time.
While Cork briefly took advantage of the Lilywhites’ trip to St Petersburg, the men in white got their second wind from somewhere and put in an unbelievable shift.
Bar scoring, Kenny couldn’t have asked more of his side and can be justifiably proud of them. They were dead on their feet at times but never stopped trying, with man of the match Finn epitomising their stunning effort with a tireless display.
The result might not have gone Dundalk’s way but they certainly didn’t let themselves down. One or two did struggle to get into the game on the back of Thursday’s game in Russia but given all they’ve been through of late an off day can surely be forgiven.
It said a lot about this side that on the same day as Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho was questioning his players for failing to play through pain that Stephen O’Donnell somehow lasted the course despite pulling two muscles in the game, the first as early as midway through the first half.
It was a half that Dundalk abso- lutly dominated.
John Caulfield spoke plenty beforehand about his side not being inferior to Dundalk but actions speak louder than words and it was clear from the get-go that they were set up to contain the Lilywhites.
In many ways all the pressure was on the Rebels and they looked suitably nervy in the early stages, with some heavy challenges inside the opening four minutes.
Chris Shields was forced to leave the field after having his head cut open by a stray elbow from Garry Buckley and while he was off David McMillan also shipped a heavy challenge from Bennett - a foul which the centre half later admitted was “revenge” for the league defeat at Oriel Park the previous month.
With Cork packing their defence Dundalk dominated possession, as much as 75% of it, but had to be patient for chances to come along.
The first real opening came on 20 minutes when Andy Boyle’s crossfield pass released Sean Gannon on the right with his cutback finding Daryl Horgan, who could only blaze over.
Either side of the first foul Dundalk conceded on 27 minutes there were bookings for Greg Bolger and Bennett - Bolger for a rugby tackle on O’Donnell and Bennett for a challenge on the same player that could have yielded a red given he left the ground with studs raised.
It took Cork until the 37th minute to register their first shot when Sean Maguire headed well wide from a Garry Buckley cross from the right.
The Rebels had to ride their luck twice in quick succession before the break though, firstly on 39 minutes when Horgan got in down the left before attempting to chip Mark McNulty, who was let off by a poor execution as he backtracked to his line.
McNulty then came to his side’s rescue a minute later after Cork were caught on the break. Ronan Finn picked Gearoid Morrissey’s pocket in midfield to release Horgan.
He in turn slipped McMillan in to the right of goal but his shot was turned behind by McNulty.
Dundalk went close again on 42 minutes when Gartland headed just wide from a Horgan corner.
Cork had one half-chance before the break when Bolger’s ball picked out the run of Maguire, whose heavy touch saw the chance go abegging.
Moments earlier Bolger had got away with a challenge on McEleney - something the replays suggested he shouldn’t have.
Cork were much better on the restart but it was only really on the hour mark when they troubled their opponents for the first time when Bennett beat Rogers to a corner only to see his header cleared off the line by Gannon.
Kevin O’Connor also went close with a free six minutes later but Rogers always looked to have it covered as it cleared both the wall and the crossbar.
Having weathered the initial storm at the start of the second half, Dundalk got their second wind and went close again on 74 minutes when Finn tore down the right to tee up McMillan for a shot which he fired just wide.
Two minutes later Rogers made a bit of a mess of saving a shot from Morrissey but made a good recovery to claw away the rebound from the inrushing Maguire.
The former Dundalk player had