Pender confident of cup success
Credit:
Having missed out on playing in last year’s FAI Cup semi-final with
his former club Bray Wanderers, St. Patrick’s Athletic defender Derek Pender
is looking forward to Sunday’s semi-final clash with Shamrock Rovers.
The defender is quietly confident that his side can come away with a win and book their place in the final of the blue riband competition; it’s all about belief. “We have to believe in ourselves to be good enough to win the cup and we think we can. Hopefully we can go out and do it. I was suspended last year in the semi-final for Bray. This year I’m looking forward to it,” he told reporters ahead of the game.
With Rovers’ league form the talking point for most people of late the ex-Bray man feels the pressures is all on the Tallaght side ahead of the game. “Everything seems to be on Rovers at the moment. I’m sure the players would be feeling a bit of pressure especially at home as well; they always have the biggest crowd there. They will be feeling a bit of pressure, hopefully,” he said.
He also acknowledged that it is a welcome distraction for Pat’s having the focus on Rovers. This year there has been little talk about the long wait the Inchicore side have had to endure since their last cup triumph. “Normally it’s about Pat’s and how long it has been. Now with Rovers not been doing well, having got some bad results in the last few weeks, all the pressure seems to be on them. The focus is on them at the moment.”
And although the game is being played in Tallaght, Pender said it holds no fears for him and the rest of the Pat’s players. “It won’t hold any fears for us we are looking forward to going up there.” Pender revealed that at the start of the year the aim for St. Pat’s manager Pete Mahon was to win a cup. “He (Mahon) drilled it into us from the start of the season our goal was to win a cup. We did know at the start of the season that we’d be challenging for the league so the cup was our main objective,” he admitted.
With St. Pat’s currently in fourth spot in the table at the moment the FAI Cup might be their only hope of clinching a place in Europe for next year. Pender believes there’s still a lot to play for in the league. The focus now for Pete Mahon’s side is claiming some silverware. He said, “I wouldn’t say third place is beyond us at the minute. We still have to go down to Sligo and we have Bray at home, hopefully we can get those results. There is pressure on us winning the cup because we said at the start of the season we want to win something; win a cup competition. Obviously being in the Setanta Cup Final, this is the only one left. We have to go on and push on and try and win it.”
The defender is quietly confident that his side can come away with a win and book their place in the final of the blue riband competition; it’s all about belief. “We have to believe in ourselves to be good enough to win the cup and we think we can. Hopefully we can go out and do it. I was suspended last year in the semi-final for Bray. This year I’m looking forward to it,” he told reporters ahead of the game.
With Rovers’ league form the talking point for most people of late the ex-Bray man feels the pressures is all on the Tallaght side ahead of the game. “Everything seems to be on Rovers at the moment. I’m sure the players would be feeling a bit of pressure especially at home as well; they always have the biggest crowd there. They will be feeling a bit of pressure, hopefully,” he said.
He also acknowledged that it is a welcome distraction for Pat’s having the focus on Rovers. This year there has been little talk about the long wait the Inchicore side have had to endure since their last cup triumph. “Normally it’s about Pat’s and how long it has been. Now with Rovers not been doing well, having got some bad results in the last few weeks, all the pressure seems to be on them. The focus is on them at the moment.”
And although the game is being played in Tallaght, Pender said it holds no fears for him and the rest of the Pat’s players. “It won’t hold any fears for us we are looking forward to going up there.” Pender revealed that at the start of the year the aim for St. Pat’s manager Pete Mahon was to win a cup. “He (Mahon) drilled it into us from the start of the season our goal was to win a cup. We did know at the start of the season that we’d be challenging for the league so the cup was our main objective,” he admitted.
With St. Pat’s currently in fourth spot in the table at the moment the FAI Cup might be their only hope of clinching a place in Europe for next year. Pender believes there’s still a lot to play for in the league. The focus now for Pete Mahon’s side is claiming some silverware. He said, “I wouldn’t say third place is beyond us at the minute. We still have to go down to Sligo and we have Bray at home, hopefully we can get those results. There is pressure on us winning the cup because we said at the start of the season we want to win something; win a cup competition. Obviously being in the Setanta Cup Final, this is the only one left. We have to go on and push on and try and win it.”
