Rogers ‘keeping’ the faith after defeat
DUNDALK goalkeeper Gary Rogers has backed his side to bounce back from their FAI Cup heartbreak by advancing to the last 32 of the Europa League next month.
The 35-year-old could only look on in vain as Sean Maguire’s shot in added time of extra-time deflected off Brian Gartland before squirming to the bottom left hand corner.
It was Rogers’ first final defeat in what was his fourth outing but he has backed Dundalk to overcome the upset and prolong their outstanding season into the New Year.
‘An FAI Cup final defeat no matter when it is in your career is tough,’ he said.
‘We’re bitterly disappointed. I don’t think you could have scripted a crueler way to lose a game. In the stage of the game that it was in to concede a very sloppy goal like that, a deflection that couldn’t have went any further away from me, is heartbreaking.
‘I felt we probably deserved to win it but that’s not the way it goes. As you know football is a funny game and you don’t always get what you de-deserve.
‘I think we really dominated the extra-time periods. We had a couple of good chances but just didn’t take them and got punished in the end,’ said the Meathman.
The silver lining for Dundalk is that their season is far from over. They host AZ Alkmaar in Tallaght on November 24th where no matterter what the result they will have a chance of reaching the last 32 when they travel to Israel to face Maccabi Tel Aviv in their final Group D game on December 8th. ‘It’s disappointing to lose the final but the fact the season is not over is definitely a plus and we’ve got some massive games to look forward to and some real big challenges ahead. ‘If we can rise to them occasions and get the results that we want it’ll still be a terrific year. ‘To win the league was the main objective. Obviously we’re disappointed to lose today but a cup game can go either way. We know Cork are a really good side and have had all week to prepare for it and focus in on it but I really think we did very well in the game and probably edged it but that’s not the way football goes and we got punished for a sloppy error in the end.
‘We just have to pick ourselves up now. We’ll focus in on the AZ game now in two weeks and get ourselves going for that.
‘It has been an incredible year. When you look at what this group of players has achieved and everything that was asked of them over the last six weeks in particular, it has been a real credit to everyone involved. All the staff, all the players, they have really dug in but we’ve still got lot more to do,’ said Rogers.