The League Cup Final

This Saturday see’s the final of the league cup or as others may call it the EA Sports Cup between my team Derry City and Cork City. The game will be played down in Cork in Turners Cross and will be shown live on Setanta with a 6pm kick off time. I have no doubt it will be an entertaining game with both sides looking to get their hands on the first domestic silverware of the year (excluding the cross-border Setanta Cup).

Although Turners Cross is one of the most difficult away grounds to play in, it is also always a great place to play and most players enjoy and look forward to playing there. Cork always have a great support so I expect a big crowd there on Saturday which will make it all the more daunting for us to go down there and win it.

Cork have been in very good form this year especially at home so I expect a very strongly contested cup final. They have some very good young exciting talent playing with them but I would expect their experienced players to be at the forefront of the battle this weekend. Players such as Greg O’Halloran and Danny Murphy know what it takes to win trophies and I am sure their influence will be spread around the dressing room. 

From our point of view, we want to go down and win it, no question about that. We have worked hard as a squad to get to the final so now we want to complete the job and bring the cup back to Derry. We will be going there fully prepared and for this weekend only, our focus switches firmly from our league challenge to the cup final..

It’s not a secret that most clubs, managers and players and fans look on the league cup as coming behind the league title and the F.A.I Cup in terms of importance. I agree that the league is everyone’s number one target and rightfully so. The F.A.I cup is steeped in history and has the added attraction and bonus of granting the winner a chance to play in Europe.

The league cup here in Ireland is similar to that in England so far as it is not as popular or deemed important as the other cup and a lot of the top teams play their reserves or fringe players in the early rounds of the competition. However, one significant difference in England now is that the winners of the cup qualify for Europe. That makes it a lot more attractive, especially in the latter rounds of the competition.

Obviously, I am aware that in England they get more European spots than we do here but I do believe that something has to be done in the future so the cup becomes more attractive to teams. If it’s not a European spot, possibly more money for the winners might attract more interest.

Either way, it is a competition I really want to win and this Saturday provides a great opportunity.  Over the last four years, I have managed to win a league title, F.A.I cup and a Setanta Cup so it would complete the collection to win the league cup. With that aspect in mind, I really, really want to win on Saturday.

Before I finish I just want to say a massive congratulations to the Dublin Footballers on their immense victory over Kerry last weekend in the All-Ireland Final. It was probably the best game of sport I have watched in years. It was an unbelievable contest to watch and such a magical climax.

The hunger to succeed, determination to not lose and simply play till the final whistle and will to win displayed by the Dublin lads was something anyone involved in sport could appreciate and learn from. It was an opportunity that they were simply not going to throw away and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about in sport, whether your’ a soccer player, boxer, Gaelic player or athlete, you got to take your opportunities when they come your way. Well done again lads.