Academy
- Tuesday April 1st, 2008 @ 9:48
FIFTEENS BOW OUT
OUR FIFTEEN “A” squad must now put a disappointing 3-2 defeat behind them in their Frank Cox Cup semi-final and concentrate on winning their division.
After 13 games of their 18 game league programme Brian Gardiner's side find themselves locked together at the top with Park Celtic on 33 points.
Sadly on Sunday they lost the chance to reach their League Cup final and now must show their character to bounce back.
They stormed into a 2-0 lead through Martin Staunton and then missed a hatful of other chances before it all went wrong when a couple of key decisions went against them.
Concession of a freekick that never existed on the edge of the box allowed Finglas Celtic get a foothold in the game as the ball found its way past the Saints defensive wall.
If the free-kick that wasn't – was, then the Finglas equaliser was even harder to understand – with Finglas players in offside positions the ball found its way into the net and remarkably the goal stood.
Pats battled away and scored two great goals which were inexplicably ruled out for what nobody knows and so when Finglas netted the winner in the 75th minute, Pats knew it was not to be.
A gutted Gardiner spoke afterwards about how proud he was of his team, “It's hard after seeing all the hard work the lads have put in to be denied in the manner we have been, I'm really gutted.”
“I can't praise the team enough for their attitude in training and their hard work so far during the course of the season. They have all made remarkable progress for their first season together as a team and I believe we can now use this defeat to push on and win the league and promotion.”
