KEVIN DOHERTY WAS one of 43,881 people streaming out of Aviva Stadium after last year’s FAI Cup final.
This afternoon the Drogheda United manager will stand alone on the touchline as he attempts to mastermind an upset over Derry City.
The nature of this League of Ireland season means Irish football’s showpiece will not be a grand finale for Doherty and his team.
A ninth-place finish in the Premier Division means they face Bray Wanderers in next weekend’s promotion/relegation play-off at Tallaght Stadium.
But today is an occasion that will either be cherished for the rest of days or simply discarded like the tifo display that Drogheda fans will put on in the North Stand before kick-off.
At the last official count by the FAI more than 40,000 are set to be in attendance – the largest for a final involving two clubs outside of Dublin.
Indeed, provided the occasion isn’t dampened by bad weather and no shows, it should move into second place on the all-time list after the showpiece 12 months ago.
That provides an indication of the current wave of excitement and positivity around the League of Ireland.
This FAI Cup final arrives at the end of a week when almost €45 million was allotted for clubs through the Government’s Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).
Bohs were desponded after losing 3-1 to St Pat’s on the big stage this time last year but confirmation of €24.7m towards the redevelopment of Dalymount Park was hailed by the club’s chief operating officer, Daniel Lambert, as a seismic day that will “transform” the future in Phibsborough.
Over in Sligo, it was impossible not to think of the late Tommie Gorman who passed away in June. A week before he died the Bit O’Red stalwart was in a bank in the town with club chairman Tommy Higgins putting the finishing touches to their LSSIF application for the regeneration of The Showgrounds and adjoining community facilities.
This week it was confirmed that Sligo would receive €16.7m.
Wexford and Shamrock Rovers will split the other €2m for their respective projects.
Even the FAI itself was welcoming a further €6m funding boost from Government for the next three years, the latest Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) coming with 16 conditions attached. A report in the Irish Independent did, however, state that there would be a voluntary redundancy programme for staff in Abbotstown early next year.
On the pitch there is optimism for the future, although both Drogheda and Derry come into this game on the back of varying levels of suffering.
The Louth club missed out in this tranche of funding from the LSSIF, club owner Wes Hill putting a brave face on it. “But really, I mean for us, it’s a long-term thing and so it’s just a bump in the road,” he said.
The next week will make the landscape a lot clearer for their plans to become a full-time football set-up. The Trivela Group are in situ at Drogheda for a year now and the next seven days will surely shape the medium term future of the club.
Win the FAI Cup and they will be guaranteed a place in Europe – most likely the Europa League qualifiers rather than Conference League due to an improve coefficient of the League of Ireland.
Stay in the Premier Division and they can plan accordingly.
Defeat and relegation is a sobering alternative.
In Derry’s case, they are the overwhelming favourites but it’s still just a little over a week since Shelbourne won the Premier Division title at the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
Throughout this season they have stuttered and stumbled when it’s mattered most.
They could have won the league until defeat to St Pat’s in their penultimate game and in the end they finished fourth.
It means that Ruaidhrí Higgins needs to win the Cup not just for the glory, but for the lure of European football.
This is Derry’s second Cup final in three years and victory in 2022 was comprehensive. They outclassed Shels 4-0 and amid the intoxication of such a triumph, chairman Philip O’Doherty hailed it as a catalyst for eventually securing the League of Ireland crown.
That wait goes on and success today will dilute the disappointment of this season.
This is final has the potential to be a classic underdog story given Derry’s struggles.
But if they perform without feeling sorry for themselves then it could end up being the start of a far more difficult week
Live – Drogheda United v Derry City, 3pm. Tickets here or RTÉ 2.
Ulster are, as with the other Provinces, struggling with injuries at this early stage of the season. Ulster have particular problems in two key areas – hooker and the centre. Post South Africa tour resting policy and emerging Ireland tour contributed also. My concern is that the game has become very attritional – a team can lose 3-4 players during a match due to injury. The physicality of professional rugby has skyrocketed with players being stronger, heavier and faster. Maybe teams will need a squad of 60+ to keep going during a season. Just a thought.
@Keno: I heard Bill Beaumont mentioning something about limiting the number of subs that can be made in a game, similar to football (eg have 8 subs on the bench but can only select 5). If that was to happen then players would have to be lighter in order to be able to last the 80 minutes. That might help a little in reducing injury rate
McCloskey and Carson are big abrasive players. I can’t see Ulster spreading the ball to the wings early but Cooney and Morgan could do damage from gain line advantage from the centres.