| How the cup was won |
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| Friday, 07 November 2008 | |
 The historic cup victory could not have been predicted at the beginning of the 1982 /83 season as Rovers league form was overturned in a journey that brought the club its first FAI cup victory. The following is taken from Jim Garvey's history of the club.
Rovers have won the Cup ! The 1982/83 season was to be an historic one for the club but at the beginning of the season nobody would have predicted the outcome. Patsy Mc Gowan had returned to Finn Harps and taken half the Rovers team with him. Rovers appointed Paul Fielding as his replacement. Paul had been a dependable full-back in Billy Sinclair's championship winning squad in 1976/77. The club's debt was mounting steadily again which restricted the funds available to strengthen the squad. Everything pointed towards a season of struggle and that's exactly how it turned out. Rovers only managed four wins from their 26 league games and finished the league third last just avoiding the ignominy of having to apply for re-election. When the F.A.I. cup started Rovers were not among the favourites to win the competition. They were drawn against Home Farm in the first round and won the game thanks to a penalty from Andy Elliott. This set up a second round tussle against Shamrock Rovers at the Showgrounds. Shams took the lead in the game only for Harry Mc Laughlin to equalise for Rovers. Rovers went in front with a rare free kick strike from midfield powerhouse Tony Fagan. Rovers held on to win a place in the semi-finals. When the semi-final draw paired Rovers with non-league Cobh Ramblers a place in the final looked like a formality but Ramblers led by veteran striker Frank O'Neill had different ideas. In the first game at Flower Lodge, Ramblers took an early lead and seemed to be holding on for a major cup upset. With a couple of minutes left Rovers centre forward Mick Graham headed an equaliser to earn a replay at the Showgrounds. In the replay Rovers cruised into a two goal lead with goals from Graham and Harry Mc Laughlin and seemed to have fought off the challenge of the minnows. Incredibly Ramblers fought back and salvaged a 2 - 2 draw from the game and another replay at Flower Lodge. This game ended in a 0 - 0 draw and it seemed the teams were now so familiar with each other that they cancelled each other out. So it was back to the Showgrounds and another replay. If Rovers were destined to win the cup them Cobh Ramblers hadn't read the script. Within a minute of the start of the game Frank O'Neill put the non-league side in front and then added a second half way through the first half. At half time a stunned Showgrounds could see no way back for Rovers. They threw caution to the wind in the second half and the centre backs were pushed forward at every opportunity. Chris Rutherford pulled a goal back with a header from a Mick Ferry and then he equalised with a similar header after his fellow centre back Tony Stenson had retrieved a clearance from another free-kick and crossed for his defensive partner. The game went into extra time again. Rovers took the lead when Harry Mc Laughlin broke down the left wing. He cut inside and crossed for Gus Gilligan to head home. There was no way back for the non-league team and Rovers were in the final at last. The 1983 F.A.I. Cup final against Bohemians took place on Sunday April 24th at Dalymount Park on what must have been the wettest day in Irish history. Effectively this was a home game for Bohs, though Rovers, as usual, had just as much support in the crowd. The first half of the game saw the usual disasters which Rovers have become accustomed to in cup finals. With just 19 minutes gone the cup final centre half jinx struck again as Chris Rutherford had to be substituted with a knee injury. Almost immediately Tony Stenson received a cut to his head and required lengthy treatment. Thankfully the gutsy Englishman stayed on the pitch. With just ten minutes to the break Bohemians won a corner on the left. The corner found the head of Barry Murphy and his header beat Colin Oakley. Bohs held the lead to half time and once again Rovers were staring defeat in the face in a cup final. Rovers produced a revival of remarkable proportions in the second half which had the whole country talking about this cup final. On 58 minutes Rovers won a free kick on the left which was taken by Martin Mc Donnell. The ball barely rose from the ground and skimmed across the penalty area to Tony Stenson who met it with a crashing volley which flew past Dermot O'Neill. The players sensed that this was to be their day and roared on by a support completely oblivious to a downpour of biblical proportions they piled on the pressure. Dalymount Park was now rocking and it was the support from the north west who were making all the noise.
Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be, will be The future's not ours to see Que Sera Sera The team were driven on by the midfield guile of Martin Mc Donnell ably assisted by his midfield minder Tony Fagan. With fifteen minutes to go Tony Stenson broke up a Bohs attack and rolled the ball sideways to Mc Donnell who now seemed to be everywhere. His cultured left foot picked out a pass to Harry Mc Laughlin on the left wing. There appeared to be no danger to Bohs as Mc Laughlin picked up the ball and ran at the full back. He jinked inside and, seeing that Dermot O'Neill was off his line, placed an immaculate chip into the top corner of the net. To win the cup would have been enough. To win with a goal of such sublime quality was the icing on the cake. Bohs had one last chance when the ball fell to Donal Murphy with only minutes left. His shot seemed to be heading for the top corner but Colin Oakley launched himself across goal and managed to get a finger tip to the ball, pushing it wide. In that moment Rovers fans knew that the long wait was at an end. When the final whistle went Dalymount Park witnessed the joy that can only follow five cup final defeats out of five. Tony Fagan became the first Rovers captain to raise the cup and duly dropped the lid, but nobody cared. Sligo people have always had a love affair with the cup but until this April afternoon the cup had not reciprocated. This was the greatest day in the history of Sligo Rovers Football Club. Courtesy of Jim Garvey |
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