Buckley: We did enough to win
Credit:
Although his side could only draw with Mervue United on Friday night,
Sporting Fingal manager Liam Buckley says that his side deserved to
win the match.
“I thought in the second half we did enough to win the game. We had the bulk of the chances and the bulk of the play, albeit they had a chance in the last few minutes – which Brendan [Clarke] did well to save.”
Fingal did have their chances to seal their progress into the next round of the FAI Cup, and Buckley acknowledges that his side could have killed the game off early on.
“At 1-0, we seemed to take our foot off the pedal for about 20 minutes and then got back into the game.”
“Obviously Shaun Maher getting sent off complicated things. We had a few changes we were going to make to make sure we didn’t lose the game. And we didn’t lose the game- it’s still a draw. We’re still in the cup but we have got a replay.”
The sending off of Fingal defender Shaun Maher was hotly debated at the time, but Buckley said that he would have to see it again before knowing if a sending off was fair.
“It was definitely a card, whether it was a red or not... Shaunie was late into the tackle.”
Sporting’s failure to kill the match off seemed to come down to a lack of finishing. Asked if he could have brought on attackers like Glen Crowe from the bench, Buckley said he had no regrets about the decision not to spring Crowe into action.
“Eamon Zayed did well. We had seven subs today, so it was any three from seven really. We did enough to win the match, even in the second half with ten men. We had enough of the chances.”
“I thought in the second half we did enough to win the game. We had the bulk of the chances and the bulk of the play, albeit they had a chance in the last few minutes – which Brendan [Clarke] did well to save.”
Fingal did have their chances to seal their progress into the next round of the FAI Cup, and Buckley acknowledges that his side could have killed the game off early on.
“At 1-0, we seemed to take our foot off the pedal for about 20 minutes and then got back into the game.”
“Obviously Shaun Maher getting sent off complicated things. We had a few changes we were going to make to make sure we didn’t lose the game. And we didn’t lose the game- it’s still a draw. We’re still in the cup but we have got a replay.”
The sending off of Fingal defender Shaun Maher was hotly debated at the time, but Buckley said that he would have to see it again before knowing if a sending off was fair.
“It was definitely a card, whether it was a red or not... Shaunie was late into the tackle.”
Sporting’s failure to kill the match off seemed to come down to a lack of finishing. Asked if he could have brought on attackers like Glen Crowe from the bench, Buckley said he had no regrets about the decision not to spring Crowe into action.
“Eamon Zayed did well. We had seven subs today, so it was any three from seven really. We did enough to win the match, even in the second half with ten men. We had enough of the chances.”
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net. View Full Profile