Lucan United beat Inchicore Athletic in the Metropolitan Cup final Photo by Josh Donnelly
Lucan United crowned Metro Cup champions
LUCAN United have won the Metropolitan Cup following a 2-1 victory against Inchicore Athletic in the final at the UCD Bowl last weekend.
Despite a positive start, Lucan found themselves on the backfoot following a goal in the 24th minute from Kyle Dunphy which put Inchicore up 1-0.
Lucan managed to get one back at a key moment however with a goal from Sean Quinn at the stroke of halftime to level the scoring going into the second half.
The introduction of Agbo Babatunde in the 57th minute of the game would prove to be a critical moment for Lucan with the youngster going on to deliver a stellar performance, providing the assist for Marco Chindea in the 75th minute to score the winning goal. The assist and performance earned him a deserved Man of the Match award.
Following the result, Lucan manager Keith Baker was full of praise for the opposition.
“Inchicore have had a great season themselves. There’s a new young manager in there and he’s done really well with them. It was brilliant to win it.
‘Jake [Donnelly] has gone in there in his first job.
‘It’s very tough to go in and manage at that level, I know he was a great player at this level but to manage is very different. It’s great to see another young manager coming through like myself.”
“I don’t think enough of the managers get the credit that they deserve to get. Johnny [McClaren] at Finglas United has done a brilliant job with them as well. I think it’s great to see. It’s great for the league.”
Of course Baker was more than happy with the performances of his own players also, citing one name in particular, Regan Lennon, who actually joined Lucan from Inchicore earlier on in the season has been immense for the team.
His performances have led to notice from across the country including at international level where he has been called up into the Irish amateur squad.
“He’s got himself into all the squads that you can play in.
‘He’s done brilliantly for us. He’s going to be a massive, massive name.
‘He’s way above LSL level and if he isn’t in the third tier with us next season he’ll be in the League of Ireland one way or the other.”
