It wasn’t to be for St. Michael’s in last night’s FAI Junior Cup final.
The Tipp Town side were beaten 5-4 on penalties against Newmarket Celtic in Saturday’s decider in Jackman Park, Limerick.
The Clare side took the lead with a penalty from Harvey Cullinan in the 37th minute before David Slattery equalised for the Saints in the second half.
Michael’s were reduced to 10-men in the 87th minute after centre back Paul Breen received a second yellow card.
Newmarket goalkeeper Shane Cusack made a number of key saves including one from Shane Ryan in the shootout which proved to be the difference.
Speaking after the game, Saints manager John Cremins commended the teams performance turnaround at half-time.
“I think the message at halftime was that we just needed to get back out and do what we do. We understood we didn’t play well; we didn’t get to the usual tempo of the games, so we just had a little heart-to-heart and said, “Look, if we’re going to go out, we’re going to go out without any regrets. We’re going to go out trying our best,” and, to be fair to them, the second half was far better.”
