DCUFM have won back the Bill O’Herlihy cup on penalties following an intense 9-9 draw at the end of extra time (4-3).
The match, played on the 10th of April, saw The View narrowly miss out on securing their third consecutive title.
The DCUFM team started off poorly conceding 3 goals within the opening minutes and only scoring one before the subs started to come on. As The View’s team began to rotate subs they lost coherence and The FM team were quick to capitalise regaining the lead within ten minutes with two goals from play and a penalty for a pass back that was picked up by the keeper.
By the time the second half kicked off, The View began to avail of the rotation of players coming back to tie the score at 9-9 with a goal from Rudi Kinsella disallowed as the shot was taken after the final whistle. Extra time didn’t see any more goals and The FM team went on to win on penalties.
Both captains thought The Views player of the match had to be Rudi Kinsella with Ian Brennan saying “I know myself playing in defense, he was a nightmare and scored something like 5/6 goals” and Alex Dunne, captain of The Views team, saying “simply put he drove our attack, we couldn’t create without him, he notched five for himself and probably had a hand in eight of our nine.”
The two also highly praised Mark Carroll with Dunne putting him on the same level as Rudi but for different reasons. Dunne said “I’ve worked with Mark loads, he’s a real engine and a great communicator, and we felt his influence all over the pitch whenever he was on it.”
For The FM team, however, there was less of a consensus. While both praised Alice Linehan and considered her as one of the team’s best players, Dunne chose Joshua Freeman and Brennan picked Colm McDonnell. Dunne pointed to Freemans work ethic as his top quality saying, “he was relentless all game” while Brennan said McDonnell was his top pick because “his hunger and energy combined with his skill really made him stand out”
When asked if he thought the result was fair, Dunne said “Look it went down to penalties, it was a lottery at the end and it is what it is. The lads did me proud, and to be honest if not for a brief period of disorganisation in the first half, we’d have won it. But I don’t think it was unfair because FM gave every bit as good as they got. It was intense, and it just fell their way”
Brennan praised his team saying “It’s an amazing feeling especially after being on the losing team last year, the entire team was fantastic and everyone put in a tremendous effort.”
Hugh Farrell
Image Credit: Eoin Harte