THE FAI Cup final has become the occasion in which the entire Irish football nation share, but there’s no passing around the silverware, and so just as was the case when these sides met in the 2021 decider, the Cup is Inchicore’s.
The first win was on penalties: this one came from behind. Jonathan Afolabi gave Bohs a dream start from the spot after seven minutes but his side couldn’t deal with the quality of Jake Mulraney’s set pieces, from which Mark Doyle equalised and Krystian Nowak unfortunately handed the wrong team the lead. Pat’s closing resolve was backboned by youth, and having survived a Bohs barrage, they sealed the Cup with minutes remaining thanks to Tommy Lonergan’s curled finish.
The post-game was contrast was familiarly brutal for Bohs. As the Pat’s players cavortied in front of their fans, the Bohs squad morosely clapped their subdued support. This result will be celebrated in Drumcondra too, as it means Shelbourne will play in Europe next year, with Bohs left with nothing.
The few minutes before kick-off in the FAI Cup final is the greatest sensory experience in Irish sport. The teams come out and the ground rattles to the crack-crack-crack of flares; and as the smoke dances acridly on your nostrils, falls in faint flakes on your hair and mantles your eyes, the flares maintain their startling cadence of fizzle-fizzle-bang, covering the pitch like some kind of smoky glaucoma.
Which meant whatever happened in the game’s first five minutes remain as allegations. Chris Forrester might have won a midfield free-kick; Joe Redmond and James Clarke might have collided with each other in their own tone-setting reducers. We cannot exactly be sure, as the flare smoke was such that you couldn’t see from one side of the pitch to the other.
But once the smoke cleared, the significance of it all hit home. The stands were almost totally full, with the 2023 FAI Cup final drawing a record crowd of 43,881 and becoming the best-attended domestic game here in 78 years. This was a stunning achievement by the FAI but primarily the two clubs involved, and proof the problem child is always the one who turns out to be the most interesting. A sporting world long traduced, undermined and disrespected is finally in the position to show its best to the rest of the country.
And, in a break from tradition, we got a game to match the occasion. Ordinarily these are games balanced on a knife-edge, as players are inhibited by pressure and nerves which have sprouted and wrapped like tendrils around their legs and arms.
Tension’s best antidote is always an early goal, and it arrived here after seven minutes. Afolabi was deemed to have been fouled in the box by Anto Breslin, and the Bohs striker then rolled his spot kick to Dean Lyness’ left as the goalkeeper dived the wrong way. The ball skidded by a flare-blown crater in the six-yard box as it went in. Bohs manager Declan Devine pointed to his head and appealed for calm. This, you won’t be surprised to hear, was a forlorn call, as the Bohs fans celebrated by assailing the pitch with more flares. In some countries the long post-goal delays are for VAR reviews. Here it’s so firemen can scurry onto the pitch with buckets of sand.
Bohs then maintained their ascendancy, their forward play slick and fluid as James Clarke, Dylan Connolly and Danny Grant dovetailed neatly, all playing off the central pivot of Afolabi, who dropped deep and linked play.
Pat’s were struggling for impetus but then found it in the best possible way, equalising against the run of play midway through the first half. First Jake Mulraney was fouled down the right-wing, and he then whipped a wicked cross into the Bohs box which Mark Doyle glanced beyond Talbot.
Not that Bohs’ attacking flow was greatly interrupted. Danny Grant’s battle on the left with Sam Curtis was terrific all afternoon, and moments after the equaliser, Curtis was alert to steer the ball for a corner with Grant loitering behind him and ready to tap in Connolly’s snapped cross.
Pat’s settled in the 15 minutes approaching half-time, however, with Chris Forrester growing in influence. Given an effective invitation to shoot from range at one point, Forrester thwacked a long-range effort just over Talbot’s crossbar.
But if Forrester slowly heated up, 21-year-old Kian Leavy exploded after half-time. The second-half was barely a minute old when he sprang away from Cian Byrne, whose last recourse was to haul him down. A dangerous tactic, given Mulraney’s quality. There followed another stunning, nigh-undefendable in-swinger to the back post, which Redmond steered into the far corner via a deflection off Bohs defender Krystian Nowak. With teenager James McManus struggling in midfield, Devine swapped him for left-back Paddy Kirk, with Jordan Flores moving into midfield.
It almost worked immediately, with Lyness agile to push Flores’ guided long-range shot around the post. Flores beckoned to the Bohs supporters and it began the siege. Afolabi was brilliantly put through by Flores, but saw his shot blocked behind. Moments later, when Grant pulled the ball back for Afolabi on the penalty spot, the Bohs fans drew breath and beautiful, terrible, hope and then exhaled in lousy exasperation as Afolabi fired his shot over the crossbar. Pat’s, meanwhile, lost Mark Doyle to injury and then Forrester and Mulraney as they both cramped up. Their replacements included 16-year-old Mason Melia and 18-year-old Adam Murphy, which meant Pat’s had to close out the game with four teenagers and another two players aged 21.
Meanwhile, the Bohs agony accumulated. Afolabi was clattered from behind by Norman and Flores stood up to curl a free-kick that went clang and behind off the post.
Pat’s however, resisted the Bohs siege, and they defended the game in the best means possible, by going and winning it. There was three minutes left in normal time when substitute Tommy Lonergan pounced on John O’Sullivan and Flores’ errors in midfield. The despairing Flores left to watch it all unfold from the turf. Lonergan strode clear, opened up his body, and curled a left-footed shot beyond James Talbot to let loose the celebrations. The Pat’s bench was lost in a wrangle of ecstatic bodies as players raced after Lonergan in celebration beneath a fresh swell of smoke from the stands.
Bohs had seven minutes of stoppage time to throw the final back into doubt, but couldn’t register a meaningful shot, much of their attacking play broken up by the tenacity of man-of-the-match Jamie Lennon.
Captain Joe Redmond clutched at his head and sank to his knees at full-time, overwhelmed by it all. This final is now a fixture of the Irish sporting calendar, and the FAI Cup is increasingly becoming a fixture at Richmond Park.
Bohemians: James Talbot; Bartłomiej Kukulowicz, Krystian Nowak, Cian Byrne, Jordan Flores (captain); Adam McDonnell (John O’Sullivan, 84′), James McManus (Paddy Kirk, 51′); Dylan Connolly, James Clarke, Danny Grant (Ali Coote, 68′); Jonathan Afolabi
St Patrick’s Athletic: Dean Lyness; Sam Curtis, David Norman, Joe Redmond (captain), Anto Breslin; Jamie Lennon, Chris Forrester (Adam Murphy, 68′); Jake Mulraney (Jason McClelland 68′), Kian Leavy (Alex Nolan, 75′) Mark Doyle (Mason Melia, 56′), Conor Carty (Tommy Lonergan, 75′)
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Attendance: 43,881
Written by Gavin Cooney and posted on the42.ie
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