“It’s all about being in the manager’s plans come that final”- Finn
By Stephen Leonard
SHAMROCK Rovers captain Ronan Finn insists reaching the FAI Cup Final has fuelled their ambition to make a strong finish in the SSE Airtricity League.
With Dundalk having, last week, secured the Premier Division crown for the fifth time in six seasons and Rovers guaranteed second place, some might suspect that drive and ambition may have been tempered somewhat.
Shamrock Rovers captain Ronan Finn insists the desire to be in the match-day team for next month’s FAI Cup Final will keep the players driven over the remainder of the season.
But Finn was quick to pour water on any such suggestion, stressing the importance of a productive homerun for each and every one of the players, all of whom will be eager to get the nod from manager Stephen Bradley when it comes to their FAI Cup Final clash with Dundalk on Sunday, November 3.
The Hoops secured their place in this season’s showpiece following a 2-0 victory over arch rivals Bohemians in Friday night’s semi final in Dalymount Park, Graham Burke and Tallaght’s Aaron Greene with the all-important goals.
“If we had lost to Bohs in that cup semi final it probably would have deflated us a bit, but now it’s all about being in the manager’s plans come that final on November 3” said Finn.
“We have players coming back, like Neil Farrugia, who’s going to be a really big player for us, and we’re all competing to be in the starting line-up against Dundalk.
“We want to finish as close to Dundalk as we can. We don’t want to have a big points difference between us when we play them in the final.
“Everytime we play them there’s very little between us. They’ve just shown a high level of consistency that we need to get to.
“They play a different type of game to us. We play more direct and we’re proud of the brand of football that we have.
“The two defeats to Dundalk were a killer as were the results against Bohs, but if we can eliminate that, there’d be very little between us” he told The Echo.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to the Showgrounds to face Sligo Rovers, Finn continued “Sligo away is a very tough fixture and I’m sure they’ll be bitterly disappointed after losing against Dundalk in the cup semi finals.”
The team will be coming into that fixture off the back of a second straight victory over Bohs, something that Finn was most pleased with.
“It was important that we got the win” he said. “We were comfortable without playing brilliant football. We managed the game well.
“Cup football is like that. It’s not about playing really attractive football, it’s more about just getting into the next round.
“Knowing that we had beaten them a few weeks before in Tallaght helped relieve the pressure.
“People had been saying oh you haven’t beaten them in X amount of games and Bohs could have used the statistics against us. Once we beat them, we took that away from them. It was just 11 v 11 again” he said.
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