Cork City claimed the SSE Airtricity Under 17 League title, to go along with the Premier Division title, after a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over Bohemians in Turners Cross on Monday afternoon.
In front of a large crowd, Brendan O’Sullivan’s charges were the better side in the first, before Bohs got back into the game. However the game ended scoreless after extra-time, before City came out victorious after penalties.
Bohemians Manager Jimmy Mowlds was understandably disappointed to lose the final. He said, “Obviously disappointed to lose the game but when it goes to penalties it’s anyone’s game. Cork were better than us in the first half and we could’ve went in a couple of goals down, but we picked it up in the second half and had a couple of very good chances to score, whit hitting the post and having two efforts cleared off the line. Well done to Cork City I hope they enjoy the celebrations.”
We caught up with both midfielder Rory Doyle and defender Shane O’Riordan after the win.
Doyle told us they were confident beforehand, “I suppose there’s always a bit of nerves before a Cup Final but we were confident going into the game after two brilliant performances in the quarters and semis.”
On the game itself he said, “I think we dominated the first 25 minutes of the game and probably could have been 1 or 2 up going into half-time. They came out and had more spells of possession in the second half and I thought our defending was excellent with a couple of off the line clearances.”
“When it came to penalties the whole team was confident as our keeper Alan (Kelleher) is unreal at saving them. He said to me after the game that that’s our 10th penalty shoot-out win together in a row. It was an unbelievable feeling when we won it, it still hasn’t sunk in yet to be honest.”
He also spoke about the season saying, “Throughout the season the coaches mixed the team up a lot and I think that stood to us a lot in the knockout stages, where everyone was needed. A lot of us gained experience playing with the U-19’s as well this season which helped us. Overall it was a brilliant season for the team and me personally, I was happy to progress from U-17’s to the U-19’s with the club.
Defender O’Riordan spoke about pre-game nerves and the battles he had to overcome throughout the season. He said, “I knew this game was going to be the toughest game of our season and it was. Bohemians are a strong quality side and made the game very difficult. The game could’ve went to either side but fair play to Bohemians who gave their all.”
“I felt a lot of nerves the morning of the game but as the day went on, seeing my team and coaches and walking onto the Turners Cross pitch, I started to feel more excited then nervous.”
He was confident as the penalty shoot-out loomed, “The penalty shoot-out came and I was confident we would win, we went to penalties in the quarter and semi finals and our goalkeeper Alan Kelleher saved the penalties and we won. I knew our penalty takers would slot them in. I knew Alan would save the penalties again in the final which he did.”
On his own season with the U-17’s O’Riordan said, “I really enjoyed my season with Cork this year. I learned a lot about myself and improved as a player from my coaches. Putting in the hard work and dedication all year paid off. I had a good few injuries which gave me some set-backs but I got through it, it was a tough season if I'm honest. We lost a good amount of games and we had some poor performances. There was a stage during the year when we thought we wouldn't make top 4. But we pulled together as a team and proved everyone wrong and now are League of Ireland Champions. I'm really looking forward to the future.”
Photo Credit: Doug Minihane
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