We’re guilty of a few things.
We’ll be the first to hold our hands up and say we don’t cover League of Ireland and Irish football as much as we should.
It’s convenient with the Premier League to just go and neglect the domestic scene.
But Dundalk and Cork have been making it very hard to ignore them over the last few years.
Dundalk won three in a row in the League of Ireland and Cork dethroned them this year, and they met again in the FAI Cup final this year too.
There’s serious quality on that pitch, do not forget that between them the teams have sent over the likes of Daryl Horgan, Sean Maguire and Andy Boyle to Preston.
And we also can’t forget Dundalk’s remarkable Europa League run where they were very competitive.
So, in short, the two teams are a great advertisement for domestic football.
Well, in front of a decent crowd at the Aviva Stadium the two sides played out a 1-1 draw, last year it was a late Sean Maguire goal was all that separated them.
Niclas Vemmelund opened the scoring in extra time and it looked like revenge was on the cards.
Niclas Vemmelund gives Dundalk the lead in extra-time! Live: https://t.co/D9YoVfhqug #FAIcupfinal pic.twitter.com/RqJvujHAuJ
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) November 5, 2017
But Achille Campion was on hand to equalise it with ten minutes to go.
Achille Campion gives Cork City the equaliser in the #FAIcupfinal pic.twitter.com/BDPSfT5WUc
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) November 5, 2017
So then we went to penalties, both teams were flawless until Michael Duffy missed Dundalk’s last spot kick.
Two years in a row now for Cork to bring home the trophy and they have now completed the domestic double.
Fair play to them.
