Malahide United will be hoping to put a dismal league season firmly behind them on Friday night when they face Galway United in the third round of the FAI Cup.
The seasiders' season-long relegation fears were finally realised last week when they lost their Senior Division status in the Leinster Senior League. Mals drew 2-2 with Cherry Orchard the previous week, meaning they were relying on Tolka Rovers to beat a Mount Merrion side needing only one point to stay up. Heartbreakingly for Malahide, Mount Merrion's 2-2 draw with Tolka secured the point they required, sending Niall Conway's men tumbling through the trapdoor.
Add in a 2-0 defeat in Sunday's Metropolitan Cup final against Crumlin United and it sums up a season to forget for a Malahide side that - in Conway's own words - seems to have grown stale after four seasons together.
"We were lacking confidence against Crumlin," he admitted. "There is a lot of doom and gloom around the club and the thing is only starting to filter through to the players now that we are relegated. Some of the players thought it would never happen."
"We can have no excuses," he added. "Some players need to move on and younger players need to get their chance. We need to build for the future."
That said, the FAI Cup tie with Galway provides Conway's charges with an opportunity to salvage some pride from a season of disappointment and he feels the game presents an opportunity to bring some feel-good factor back to Malahide.
"There's nothing we can do [about the season gone]. We have to roll up the sleeves and hopefully we'll get them back to Gannon Park and give everybody a lift. We're up against it. I'm not saying we'll beat them but hopefully we'll do the club proud."
"The players don't need a lot of motivation which is one of the advantages of playing against a League of Ireland club," Conway added. "If we brought them back to Gannon Park for a replay that would be a lift for the players. We need a bit of luck, we haven't had a lot of it this year, but if we get some you never know."
This article appeared in the Fingal Independent on June 1st, 2010, with the actual match taking place three days later, June 4th. Galway United ran out 5-0 winners (full report by Extratime.ie).
No comments:
Post a Comment