Peamount United players celebrate with the cup after the FAI Youth Cup final match between Finglas United and Peamount United at Frank Cooke Park
Photos by Sportsfile
Five-star Peamount lift FAI Youth Cup
PEAMOUNT United defeated Finglas United in the National U18s Youth Cup final last Saturday after a thrilling contest saw them pick up a 5-3 win after extra time.
Held at Frank Cooke Park, Peamount found themselves on the backfoot early on in the game as they conceded a goal in the 13th minute for Finglas to take the lead.
Things went from bad to worse just before halftime as Finglas’ lead doubled thanks to an own goal from the Peamount defender in injury time of the first half.
A slow start to the second half saw them punished further and by the 70th minute of the game Peamount found themselves down 3-0, down and seemingly out of the contest.
The spirit among the squad was on full display for the remainder 20 minutes of normal time however with Nathan Burke starting off the comeback with a goal in the 74th minute.
Still with a mountain in front of them it wasn’t until Lennon Grace scored just under 10 minutes later that it looked like Peamount really had a chance of getting something from the game.
John Buckley from the FAI presents the FAI Youth Cup to Darragh Tougher captain of Peamount United
Now just 3-2 down with over five minutes left to play the side surged forward, probing for that coveted equalising goal.
It would come, with Emmet Kelleher’s stunning strike in the 86th minute ensuring that the match was not over and the game went to extra time.
From here, the momentum and self belief was all with Peamount who pushed forward.
Fionan White got them ahead 4-3 in the 107th minute with Finglas going a man down immediately after.
Finally the emphasis was put on the win by an injury time goal from Marvellous Kusoro, leaving no doubt as to who the winners would be and securing a truly momentous comeback.
Peamount secured the National Cup following a defeat in the LFA Youth Cup being defeated by St Francis at Provincial level just a few weeks ago. Manager Stephen Doyle spoke on the impact that had on the team.
Emmet Kelleher of Peamount United was named FAI Man of the Match
“The LFA Cup final, we lost it two weeks ago, that galvanised the group and really drove us on to victory in Saturday’s final. The character, team spirit and belief have been incredible all season.”
“We played really well against Francis, the performance was outstanding.
‘The lads were devastated after, we didn’t take our chances but we could say to the lads after that we had a bigger cup coming up.
‘Not a lot of people get that second chance.
‘We’ve been on a journey since the start of the season with a lot of ups and downs and defeats, key experiences.
‘All on the road to success. A phenomenal journey and to end it like that was fantastic.
‘The stuff of dreams and they’ll remember that for the rest of their lives.”
