*Avenue Utd manager, David Russell. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
AVENUE UNITED manager David Russell didn’t hide his disappointment at his side’s elimination from the prestigious FAI Junior Cup at Clarinbridge on Saturday.
“It’s déjà vu , it’s the exact same as last year, beaten on penalties in the last 16 away from home. We scored a goal but conceded within forty five seconds and I think that galvanised them again. They are a fairly tight knit unit, there are four brothers on their team and it showed their spirit. I have to commend them on that, they battled right to the very end,” Clarecastle native Russell told The Clare Echo.
A former centre-half for the club, Russell managed Avenue Utd to a League and Cup double last season. He admitted, “I thought our fitness would catch them for a finish but they battled on gamely. I don’t know about them deserving the win but they scored their penalties and we didn’t score ours. I am bitterly bitterly disappointed that we didn’t take our chances”.
Reflecting on Colga FC’s equaliser from Boris Ajong, David said, “We have said it before, we are at our most vulnerable when we score. We lost the ball at midfield, were indecisive on the edge of the box and conceded a very very soft goal when we should have been pushing on in search of a second goal to put it out of reach”.
Russell continued, “I thought we were the better team throughout, I thought we were fitter and stronger but that’s the luck of the draw and we are now out of the competition”.
He had been confident the Roslevan based club “would do better” with the advantage of an extra man and their fitness levels.
“We created loads of chances, Eoghan Thynne was unlucky with a header, Ronan Kerin was unlucky and Na had a chance as well. It’s déjà vu and its absolutely sickening. I can only wish them the best of luck in the last eight”.
Focus now switches to returning both their League and Cup title, he stressed. “I have just said in the dressing room, the season doesn’t end here. We have to defend our cup and our league. It’s heartbreaking to be out of this one but sport is sport and it’s not the end of the world, we pick ourselves up dust ourselves down during the week and we go again”.
Russell admitted that his side were without two key players for this tie. “ Conor Mullen hurt his knee in the warm up. We made a change and Jamie (Roche) was outstanding at centre back. Cullen (McCabe) was unbelievable at right back. It was a change to the starting line up. Mark (Roche) got injured early on and he had to leave the action after twenty minutes. He is one of our talismen, that was a big loss, two very experienced men out but the men that came in did their jobs manfully”.
As the clearly disappointed Avenue players filtered out of the dressing room, the manager commented “they (Colga) are having a sing song in the dressing room now and that shows what this win means to them. They are a tight knit group, fair play to them and we wish them well”.
Concluding he said, “we are back domestically next week in the league and then it’s Newmarket in the cup and that’s going to keep us focussed for the next few weeks and we will see where it’s going to go from there”.
