Champions! Four star Derry City win FAI Cup final

Derry City thumped Shelbourne 4-0 in the final of the FAI Cup final in Dublin on Sunday, November 13 (kick off 3 pm).

It brought the curtain down on a good season for the Candystripes after finishing second in the SSE Airtricity League.

It’s their sixth FAI Cup win, their first since 2012 and is a huge boost to the 14,000 Derry fans who made the trip to the Irish capital to see silverware coming back to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

The cup final win will certainly be a launch pad for City in the league next season to strengthen resources in an effort to win the league title under manager Ruaidhri Higgins.

Jamie McGonigle opened the scoring for the Candystripes in the 18th minute, before Cameron McJannet added a second ten minutes before half-time.

Damien Duff’s side offered little in reply as the Brandywell side wrapped the ribbons on the old trophy in the 61st minute as McJannet added another to seal a well-earned victory, before Jordan McEneff scored an injury-time spot-kick to emphasise the Derry dominance.

After a fine league campaign, Derry’s intentions ending on a high were clear from the first whistle.

They went straight on the attack, working Shelbourne stopper Brendan Clarke after a minute of play as Jamie McGonigle raced through.

The keeper had to race out to make a vital save as the Derry striker just got his shot away under pressure from Luke Byrne who matched his run.

Shels also looked to put pressure on the Derry defence early on and a clever ball from JJ Lunney across the face towards the arriving Sean Boyd needed negotiating before the Candystripes cleared the danger.

But Derry started to take control of the game early on and enjoyed a prolonged spell inside the Shelbourne half, leading to two set-pieces in good positions.

Boyd was lucky to avoid a caution after going through McEleney in the tenth minute, who was in turn unlucky not to open the scoring as his curling free-kick was batted around the post by Clarke.

Shelbourne, to their credit, were attempting to remain composed in their play when in possession, however, they were unable to work the ball into the final third, despite JJ Lunney and Aodh Dervin’s best efforts.

And Damien Duff’s side held a nice shape when out of possession, sitting deep, allowing Derry to have the ball but limiting their attacking play.

But then in the 18th minute a fine McEleney cross-field ball evaded Shane Farrell, allowing Ryan Graydon to take the ball in his stride in behind the Shels defence.

And the pull back to the arriving McGonigle proved perfect as the striker guided the ball inside the far post with a full-stretched Clarke unable to get close.

The Dublin club had a chance to hit straight back with a set-piece just outside the box, however, Gavin Molloy’s well-hit curling effort just failed to come back inside the post.

Grayson was again causing problems down the right flank three minutes later as he cleverly flicked the ball inside Shane Griffin and Farrell before drawing a foul from the former.

Nothing came from the set-piece into the box, however, Griffin was booked for the earlier challenge.

Then in the 35th minute, Derry doubled their lead as

started and finished a move to grab the second goal of the game.

The defender burst forward deep into the Shelbourne half before sliding a perfect ball into the path of Michael Duffy as the space opened up behind the retreating back line.

Duffy slammed the ball across the face and while it half cleared, it presented itself for McJannet, who had continued his run into the box and the left-back made no mistake to slam the ball home.

Graydon then had a chance to wrap things up in the 37th minute as he skipped past Griffin to get through on goal, however, he blasted the ball over the bar, failing to test the keeper.

Shels looked to push on in the final stages of the first half, but it was all too easy for the City back four as Boyd and Jack Moylan were effectively isolated as they attempted to press the play.

The half-time break proving a welcome few moments of respite for the Tolka Park outfit, who really needed a re-think for the second period.

Jamie McGonigle opened the scoring with a well-taken effort in the Lansdowne Road decider
Brian McManus came out in place of Shane Farrell to start the second half, and Shels manager Damien Duff was perhaps ruing his initial selection as the midfielder had been an injury doubt ahead of the game.

The change of personnel did little to bring Shels back into the cup tie, however, in the early stages of the second half, as Derry looked to settle back into the game, defending their lead, sitting deep.

Then in the 59th minute, the game sprung back into life as a long ball had Shels scrambling back to prevent another attack on goal.

The half-cleared effort popped up into the air on the edge of the box for the arriving McGonigle and with Clarke way off his line, the striker tried to guide a header into the empty net.

A fine attempt from the aerial McGonigle, however, the ball would just drop onto the roof of the net to prevent the third goal of the game.

But the third Derry goal arrived just a minute later as McJannet added his second goal of the cup final, and while a fortuitous one, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time as he followed a corned into the six-yard box, helping it home with his knee.

The Dublin club truly shell-shocked, Duffy then cut in off the left shortly after the restart to drive a stinging effort onto the crossbar as the still jubilant Derry fans behind the goal at the Havelock Square end were almost treated to a fourth.

Shels had nothing in response as the tempo of the game dropped with Derry playing keep-ball; goalkeeper Brian Maher, untested throughout, well out of his box joining in the period of possession.

The game had to be stopped momentarily in the 78th minute, as a volley of pyrotechnics rained down in and around the Derry goal, as disgruntled Shelbourne fans vented their anger with little consideration for the safety of the Candystripes keeper.

But the contest was over by this stage as the game moved into the final ten minutes allowing the engraver ample time to etch the champions name on the cup.

Higgins emptied the bench with the game in the bag and McEneff could hardly have enjoyed a better introduction, clipping the ball into the box no more than a minute on the pitch, before he was taken down by Luke Byrne as Derry were awarded an injury time penalty.

McEneff dusted himself down to take the resulting spot-kick and the substitute made no mistake to make it four for Derry, the 2022 cup champions.

Derry City: Brian Maher; Cameron McJannet, Shane McEleney (Ciaran Coll 82), Mark Connolly, Ronan Boyce, Cameron Dummigan, Patrick McEleney (capt), Will Patching (Jordan McEneff 90), Michael Duffy (Brandon Kavanagh 90), Ryan Graydon (Joe Thomson 82), Jamie McGonigle (James Akintunde 75)

Shelbourne: Brendan Clarke; John Ross Wilson, Stephan Negru, Luke Byrne (capt), Shane Griffin, Shane Farrell (Brian McManus HT), Gavin Molloy (Mark Coyle 71), JJ Lunney, Aodh Dervin (Cameron Ledwidge 64), Jack Moylan, Sean Boyd

Referee: Damien MacGraith

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