Sligo Rovers F.C. - FAI Cup Tie may define Rovers' season

FAI Cup Tie may define Rovers' season

Friday, 25 August 2006

Despite having confounded some sceptics by establishing a foothold in the top flight behind the current game’s big four of Cork City, Derry City, Drogheda United and Shelbourne, the 2006 campaign will only be regarded as a milestone for Sligo Rovers should they actually capture silverware. By: Liam Ó Maoldhomhnaigh, courtesy, The Sligo Weekender

Last year’s eircom League First Division winners have certainly embedded themselves in the Premier Division – they’ve taken points off all but one of the aforementioned top four – but the actual winning of the title is, for this season at least, beyond Sean Connor’s side.
Having been knocked out of the eircom League Cup weeks ago by north-west rivals Finn Harps, after extra-time and penalties, there is only one prize that could yet end up in The Showgrounds – the FAI Carlsberg Cup.
Manager Sean Connor is adamant that a progressive Premier Division campaign – Rovers have won eight of their 19 games thus far and drawn five – hasn’t diminished the importance of an extended run in this year’s FAI Cup.
“I want to win trophies and the players want to win trophies,” he said, “I think with all the realism in the world we are not going to win the Premier Division title this season.”
“Our task has been – and is – to see can we finish as the ‘best of the rest’ and see how far off we can be from the top four. The fact that we are sitting in fifth place is fantastic – it is a great boost to our confidence.”
“We have got to try to hang onto the shirt-tails of the teams above us and keep trying to pick up results in case they slip up.”
“We want to try to qualify for Europe and we want to compete in the Setanta [Sports] Cup – so right now the FAI Cup is our only vehicle of achieving that.”
“The FAI Cup is of vital importance. Last year it wasn’t – last year was about winning the First Division. This year is about stabilising ourselves in the Premier Division, but we really do want a good run in FAI Cup,” Connor maintained.
He was speaking ahead of next Saturday’s FAI Cup third round fixture at The Showgrounds against Bray Wanderers, whom Rovers already beat 2-0 at the same venue last Friday night in an eircom League Premier Division game.
The manager accepts that the FAI Cup affair, even though it comes just a week after the clubs’ Premier Division clash, will be a vastly different affair.
The clubs have also crossed swords in past FAI Cup campaigns, games that are still fondly remembered by fans and neutrals alike.
A place in the last eight of the FAI Cup awaits the winners whereas the outcome of Friday’s game confirmed Rovers’ place in the upper reaches of the Premier Division.
The result added another layer of woe to Bray’s already difficult year – they have only won twice in 19 attempts in the Premier Division and have lost twice to Rovers, 2-1 in the Carlisle Grounds and 2-0 in Sligo.
“Cup matches are one-off,” Connor pointed out. “There will be a bigger crowd [at The Showgrounds] and some players will relish that. Some players will love the pressure that it is a one-off situation and that we can’t afford to lose.”
“Bray have a good tradition in the FAI Cup and it is definitely their only chance of a trophy and success this year.”
“Whatever has happened in the Premier Division game, the FAI Cup game will be a different one altogether. I am quite pleased that we are at home.”
“There is a different set of circumstances. There is a different mentality associated with [FAI] Cup matches. League form goes out the window. It is hard to explain but the players sense it, I sense it and the crowd will sense it as well.”
“I think the Rovers fans are aching for a good run in the FAI Cup. Last year we got to the quarter-finals and I think that excited the fans,” said Connor, alluding to last season’s FAI Cup exploits which included victories over Leinster Senior League side Malahide United, who were stung by a brace of Paul McTiernan goals in a replay, and St Patrick’s Athletic, who were tumbled spectacularly at The Showgrounds.
But Cork City deflated Rovers’ bid to reach the last four when they won 3-1 at Turners Cross.
The same Cork City side went on to win the eircom League Premier Division – but they lost to Drogheda United in the FAI Cup final.
“We are in a one-off game and to get to the last eight would be fantastic,” added an enthusiastic Connor.
Although minus Brian Cash, who supplied the assists for the two goals that felled Bray last Friday, Connor can select a fit-again Paul McTiernan, this campaign’s joint-leading scorer along with fellow striker Darren Mansaram.
They each have scored six times this season. One of McTiernan’s goals came in the 4-0 thrashing of Munster Senior League side Carrigaline United in the FAI Cup second round which took place in Turners Cross last May.
Mansaram, who didn’t score in the win over Carrigaline, although he excelled as part of a three-man attack along with Paul McTiernan and Matthew Judge, has already scored twice against Bray in Premier Division fixtures, including a late winner at the Carlisle Grounds and an early first-half header on Friday.
After revamping the first-team squad to bolster the team’s transition from the First Division to the Premier Division, Connor is hopeful that the players who were part of the 2005 success story, the highlights of which were a First Division title and a place in the last eight of the FAI Cup, can impart that experience to those who became Bit O’Red disciples this year.
“Players like John O’Hara, Liam Burns, Conor O’Grady, Fahrudin Kuduzovic, Michael McNamara and Paul McTiernan were all part of the FAI Cup run last year and, not just that, they were part of the team that won the First Division.”
“They are all used to winning and I am hoping that their winning mentality will rub off on the rest of the players – the new signings and those who have come to the club and haven’t experienced success.”
Left-winger Harpal Singh, who scored his first goal for Rovers last Friday, expands the team’s attacking threat and versatile midfielder Fahrudin Kuduzovic, who was rested for that 2-0 overturning of Bray, is expected to be in the starting 11 this weekend.
Although red-card against Bray, full-back Gavin Peers will be free to appear in the FAI Cup. He will, however, miss Rovers’ trip to Longford Town at the beginning of next month.
The dynamism of midfielders Conor O’Grady and Chris Turner is central to Rovers’ progress and the continued reliability of the team’s central defensive partnership, Michael McNamara and Liam Burns, is another key factor.
With big guns Shelbourne and Derry City paired off in the glamour tie of the third round and a Dublin derby pitting the reborn Shamrock Rovers against Bohemians, the number of potentially dangerous rivals lessens for the quarter-finals – should Rovers get there.
“I think if we perform on the night we can win the game and given the right sort of draw there is no reason why we can’t have a decent run in the FAI Cup.”
“It [the FAI Cup] is a welcome distraction. We are quite focused on what we want to do in the Premier Division and there is a lot of pressure associated with that. There is a special atmosphere round Saturday night where we know that we have to go for a win.”
Connor believes that come Saturday night, his team are – if they play to their maximum strengths – capable of displaying the necessary depth and craft to dispense with Bray Wanderers.
“I think when it comes down to matches where we have to try to win we are as good as anyone in the country. We have enough players in the team who can supply a little bit of magic – that is what you need in Cup matches. All that we can do is make sure we are in the draw for the next round.”
“If we can win this game it gives everybody a boost at the club and in Sligo town – we are gelling and improving as a team so the game is coming at the right time,” he added.

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