Buckley: We have to pick ourselves up and get on with it

St. Patrick’s Athletic boss Liam Buckley admitted he will harbour no lost causes for the remainder of the season and that he aims to finish as far up the Premier Division as possible, after his side lost out on an FAI Cup final following a 3-1 semi-final defeat at home to Cork City.

Christy Fagan drew his side level after City defender Alan Bennett had given the visitors the lead after 23 minutes in Richmond Park.

But a sublime second half brace from 22-year-old striker Sean Maguire set up a November date for the Rebels with either Derry City or current holders Dundalk following a 2-2 draw at Oriel Park in their semi-final.

“We would be very disappointed. I thought for the first half there wasn’t a lot in the game, just that the second half was poor from a performance point of view. Our general play was not good enough, and in fairness I thought Cork did well in the second half”, said Buckley.

“The second goal just killed us. I’m not sure if it was a free kick on Jamie McGrath before that but they’ve broke out, slipped in a really good cross and it was a really good header from Maguire. Being a centre forward myself I’d appreciate it. Back across the goal and into the corner – it was a super header from his end.

“The third goal – again Maguire did particularly well for it. It was a nothing ball, he is really good at chasing those lost causes and it was a terrific finish from his end.”

His side have now all but conceded defeat in their quest for European football next season. Following a poor league campaign which sees the club currently sit ninth in the Premier Division, the FAI Cup presented a final roll of the dice for St. Pats.

Asked if he held any hope of getting into Europe for a tenth time in eleven seasons, the 56-year-old said it seemed very unlikely.

“It’s looking like that, yes. We have six or seven games to go. We will still have some impact and have some important games to go – we’ve got to play Cork twice again, we’ve got to play Dundalk. So I want us to affect the league table to some degree.

“There will be no easy matches. I know we are in mid-table but I want everybody to understand that we are going to stick at it until the end of the season and be as high as we can be.

“There will be no lost causes. If anybody comes in on Friday feeling sorry for themselves – there’s no room for that. It’s our job, it’s what we do. We just have to pick ourselves up and get on with it.

“Overall we haven't played well enough this season, but we are where we are. That said, we will do our best to affect the table going forward. There won’t be a game for the remainder of the season that we won’t want to win.”