Soccer
‘It’s a terrific end to the season for us’ – Mathews
By Daire Walsh
ST PATRICK’S Athletic first-team manager Alan Mathews hailed the resolve of the squad after the Saints edged out Bohemians on penalties in last Sunday’s gripping FAI Cup decider at the Aviva Stadium.
Working in unison with head coach Stephen O’Donnell, Mathews has helped the Inchicore club towards a fourth Cup crown and their first since 2014.
The Dubliner previously enjoyed success in the competition as a player and manager, but feels the effort produced by the wider squad throughout the year was the key factor behind their memorable end to a long campaign.
“We knew it was going to be a 16-man game. It wasn’t going to be just the 11 that started. Overall, I thought it was a good game. It was a terrific spectacle with 37,000 people. Thankfully we’ve come out the right side of it,” Mathews remarked after the game.
“I feel for Bohs, I’ve been there myself. I’ve lost penalty shootouts in cup finals. It’s a hard thing, but this is our night.
“This is our day and the players deserve it. They’ve been magnificent all season. We got runners-up in the league, but now we’ve finished with a champions medal. It’s a terrific end to the season for us.”
Pat’s midfielder Robbie Benson has also suffered shootout heartache in the FAI Cup in the recent past. In the 2017 and 2019 showpieces – as a member of a Dundalk side that were respectively managed by Tallaght natives Stephen Kenny and Vinny Perth – the Athlone man cruelly lost out on penalties to Cork City and Shamrock Rovers.
It was perhaps fitting therefore that Benson – who was one of the Saints’ very best performers on the day – was the man to fire home the decisive goal that sealed a 4-3 shootout victory.
“I’ve been on the wrong end of two penalty shootouts here with Dundalk. It’s nice to be on the other side this time,” Benson smiled.
Benson also took time to wax lyrical about the performances produced by fellow midfielder Chris Forrester during the course of a season that also helped the Saints finish runners-up in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division. Despite being the one Pat’s player to miss in the shootout, his superb solo goal had earlier broken the deadlock in the first period of extra-time.
“It was fantastic [Forrester’s goal]. He has been brilliant all year for us. He’s our talisman and he’s a special talent. We’re just so proud to have him at our club.”
For Forrester himself, this represented a second FAI Cup triumph. Having featured as a 19-year-old in an extra-time final defeat to Derry in 2012, he played his part in ensuring that the Saints gained revenge on the Candystripes at the same stage two years later.
Even though his magnificent opener last weekend was cancelled out by a headed finish from former Saints star Rory Feely, there was to be a happy ending for Forrester and his team-mates.
A league winner during his first spell at the club (he returned to Richmond Park in 2019 following spells across the water with Peterborough United and Aberdeen), he believes their FAI Cup win can provide the platform for future success.
“You’d like to think so. We keep on building. I think that’s the aim for the club under the gaffer since he came in. You can see that, we went stride to stride. We’ll keep on building and rock into next season full of confidence,” Forrester insisted.