Buckley’s boys secure Euro berth
By Stephen Leonard
LIAM Buckley will be looking to build on the positives his St Pat-rick’s Athletic team has enjoyed this season.
Winners of the EA Sports Cup in Septem-ber, the Inchicore outfit copper-fastened their place in Europe after last Friday’s 1-0 victory over Galway United put them out of reach of a Bohemians outfit that had been closing in on them over recent weeks.
Indeed recent defeats for Pat’s at the hands of Cork City and Sligo Rovers allowed the Gypsies to close to within two points ahead of the final weekend.
But a goal on the stroke of halftime by Tallaght man Aaron Greene was enough to earn the Saints all three points against Galway and ensure a return to Europa league competition next season.
“Our ambition at the start of the season was to win a bit of silverware” Buckley told The Echo.
“There were the top four teams in it with Bohs pulling themselves into the running in the last few weeks, but overall we won the League Cup and got into Europe and that’s the way I’d like the season to be remembered.
“It [getting into Europe] was always in our own hands and I’d sooner be in our posit-ion than in that of Bohs who were chasing us.
“We did make things a little difficult for ourselves towards the end and it would have been very disappointing if we hadn’t got into Europe.
“But I felt we were terribly unlucky to lose to Cork as well to Sligo. We just gave away some silly goals but we deserved to win against Galway.
“We’ll just look to re-group now. There will be some changes, but we already have a few players who are in contract for next season” he added.
