St Pat’s win their 5th Irish Cup

Photo: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

St Patricks come from behind to beat Bohemians 3-1 in the FAI Cup Final

It was a repeat of the 2021 FAI cup final with Bohs seeking revenge. But of course St Pat’s would have other ideas.

With a record attendance for an FAI Cup Final of 43,881 in the stadium it was a great atmosphere with a competition going on between the both sets of rival fans for who could light up the most flares in the stadium. It made for a spectacular sight just before kick off. The FAI and UEFA may not have been too happy but it is all part of the show these days in Irish domestic football between rival fans.

The match started off at a frantic pace and from the off you could see this was not going to be a game of tactical football chess. This was two sides going all out to win and bring home the cup to their fans.

Bohs got off to a flyer after just 9 minutes with Afolabi making it 1-0 after he won a penalty and calmly kept his head to strike it home. The Bohs fans went wild in the south side of the stadium with more flares being let off and another delay to let the smokey mist clear.

Bohs knew they needed victory for a European place and their first domestic trophy since 2009. St Pat’s had a strong finish to their league campaign and were safe in the knowledge with a third place finish in the league they were already in Europe next season.

St Pat’s were not behind for too long. A great ball into the box from Jake Mulraney which was headed into the back of the net by Mark Doyle, to make it 1-1 going into the break.

St Pat’s came out in the second half and lifted their level. It was another great free kick from Mulraney into the box causing havoc in the Bohs defence, which eventually went in off the luckless Nowak for an own goal to make it 2-1 to St Pat’s.

St Pat’s never looked back from that moment and took over control of the midfield. Bohs to be fair were pushing forward to try and find the equaliser, but a mistake from playing out from the back in the 86th minute was pounced on from Tommy Lonergan who raced through on goal to make it 3-1 and break Boh’s hearts once again.

It was a bitter pill for Bohs and their fans to swallow. There was double the amount of Bohs fans in the stadium than for St Pat’s. They really thought it was their year for the cup but St Pat’s were just too strong on the day, especially in midfield.

The future looks good for St Pat’s who had four teenagers on the pitch for the last 10 minutes including Mason Melia, who at 16 years old became the youngest player to play in a FAI Cup Final.

Manager Jon Daly was asked if he thought there were future Ireland internationals on the pitch for Pat’s?

“I hope so. Sam is exceptional. Kian Leavy (21) is outstanding. They’ve all added something. They’re all at different stages of their career and I’d like to think down the line one or two would get the opportunity to play for the national team.”