Dundalk on back foot before a ball was kicked
IT was difficult to deny the conclusion leaving the Aviva Stadium on Sunday evening that Dundalk were robbed of the honour of retaining the FAI cup. Not by Sean Maguire’s almost freak goal in the final minute of extra time, but by the blind insistence of the FAI to proceed with the final, just over 48 hours after the team returned from their Europa game against Zenit.
In so doing they deprived Dundalk of their historic achievement of successive league and cup doubles, but more importantly from the viewpoint of Irish soccer, prevented the undisputed best team in the League of playing their best on this, the supposed showcase for the game in the country.
No neutral could deny Cork City their first major honour in many years for they have been relentless in the manner that they have chased down Dundalk over the last three seasons.
But even their volatile manager, John Caulfield would have to admit that all the football was played by one team on Sunday and it wasn’t the team in green jerseys.
In insisting that the game went ahead last Sunday when it could easily have been played next Sunday, the FAI handicapped Dundalk, just as the Jockey Club would have a successful horse carry extra weight in a bumper.
They showed scant regard for the welfare of the Dundalk players, the ambitions of their manager and owners, or perhaps just as importantly the support of the Dundalk fans who again outnumbered the Cork supporters two to one.
Those loyal supporters, the best in the country, according to the latest survey, deserved better treatment from the FAI, and were entitled to expect that their team would be given the opportunity to compete with Cork for the Cup on a level playing field.
Naturally Cork would have complained had the final been postponed for a week to allow Dundalk recover, for they knew that they held a major advantage in the final being played last Sunday.
But should the FAI not have looked at the bigger picture and rejected Cork’s view by informing them that in improving the profile of Irish soccer, Dundalk were ensuring that Irish clubs entering European competitions in the future would benefit from Dundalk’s climb up the ratings.
Almost every Dundalk fan leaving the Avia last Sunday realised that their team had not been beaten by a better team, but by the schedule they had to undertake in the last month.
Indeed the supporters were full of admiration at the manner in which these weary Dundalk players were the only ones trying to win the game in extra time.
They marvelled at the sheer commitment of the players - especially Ronan Finn and Stephen O’Donnell - and reflected on their way home that these players deserved a more enlightened approach from the administrators of the game in this country who in insisting that the final be played last Sunday deprived them of their place in history.