St Patrick’s Athletic U14’s will take on Shamrock Rovers in the Eddie Wallace FAI Cup final after they beat Waterford
St Pat’s U14s book a spot in FAI Cup final
ST PATRICK’S Athletics U14 team will be taking on Shamrock Rovers in this year’s Eddie Wallace FAI Cup final after a 2-0 victory against Waterford.
The result came thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Matt Canny who managed a brace in the match to put the Saints on the road to the final.
Manager Mark Connolly spoke of his side’s performance.
“We were comfortable I thought throughout, the first two thirds we went 2-0 up, we created a lot of chances and just didn’t take them in those first two thirds.
‘Waterford went a little bit more direct in the last third in particular. They got a lot of big boys on. We physically wouldn’t be a huge team whereas they would have a lot more physicality than we would have but we dealt with it well.
“For the boys that’s their fourth clean sheet in a row now. Moving into the final it’s a little bit of consistency coming into the squad that they might not have had earlier in the year but they’re definitely after improving massively from where they were to where they are now.”
Connolly reflected on the mentality of the team headed into the game,
“Like all games, the mentality of the whole club is to win every single game.
‘We would always assume that we’re better than everybody, we’d want to look at ourselves as being better organised, better individuals, better technically and tactically better.
‘If you didn’t have that belief going in as coaches then the kids wouldn’t have it you may as well not participate in these sort of games.”
The U14 and U13 age groups are critical in the development of youth players for St Patrick’s Athletic.
The age groups see an influx of players from many of Pats partnered teams such as Cherry Orchard and Inchicore Athletic with coaches then tasked with creating a functioning team unit between players that may have never played with one another before.
“I think there’s 12 different clubs represented in this U14s team, you can imagine trying to put them together, we need to get to know them, they need to get to know us and they need to get to know each other. For us it’s a progression of where we’re at at the end of the year.
‘If we win and get to the finals it’s brilliant but it’s making sure that when we go to U15s then we’re even more competitive and developing the players.
“The massive thing at this age group is developing the player, getting them to understand what’s expected of them for when they go U17 and U20 because that’s full time, that’s a professional contract they’re chasing.”
The game against Rovers is scheduled to take place next month, but the two sides will be meeting each other in ‘friendlies’ beforehand. Connolly spoke on the nature of the games ahead.
“It’ll be a proper Dublin Derby, we’re looking forward to it and it’s a great way to end the season off.”
