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Record 8th FAI Junior Cup Title
06.06.2010
IT’S OFFICIAL! Fairview Rangers of Limerick are the modern day kingpins of junior soccer in Ireland, after collecting a record-breaking eighth FAI Junior Cup at Turners Cross in Cork, an outing that brought the curtain down on a superb season for the local outfit.
By their own admission, ‘the view’ were considered outsiders all along in this tremendous competition, but they cast aside the tag of underdogs with a penalty shoot-out victory over fancied St Michael’s of Tipperary. In a tense encounter, neither side managed a goal inside the distance, and the additional time also failed to produce a breakthrough. Inevitably, the title was decided by the way of spot kicks and Fairview Rangers triumphed 5-3. Brilliant Fairview goalkeeper Eddie Hickey (an ageless figure), who was unbeatable in 120-minutes, produced a timely save and the winning kick came from Mike Ryan. Other successful attempts came from team captain Brian Buckley, as well as Colm Heffernan, Willie O’Brien and Ross Cosgrave.
“We had been practicing our penalty taking all along,” revealed Fairview manager Jason Purcell. “On the Tuesday and Thursday before the final, we spent a lot of time taking penalties, which served our kickers and goalkeeper well in this final. And at training, Mike (Ryan) was pinging home spot-kicks for fun so I never had a fear that he wouldn’t score,” he said. Purcell added: “This is a great occasion for our club, to come out at the end of the season as the top club in Ireland is truly phenomenal. We battled through at all times during the season and it all came right for us at the end of a long year.” Said inspirational skipper Brian Buckley: “As a club we’ve been in the doldrums for the last five or six years, something that we didn’t like, but now we have certainly turned the corner.” “All year,” Buckley added, “we haven’t been fancied by others to come up trumps and to be quite honest I felt to win an FAI Cup was a year or two off. But we have a great bunch, including some really class young players, and this is a special moment for Fairview Rangers.”
Originally, the ’view had been granted a home tie at Jackman Park before the surprise announcement of Turners Cross for the showpiece. “Originally this final was fixed for the 13th but we would have been without four first-choice players for that date. We agreed to put the game back to the 6th and make the necessary sacrifice. Anyway, the bigger ground and venue actually suited us grand,” Buckley said.
Source: www.LimerickIndependent.com