*Avenue Utd manager, Adrian Walsh. Photograph: Joe Buckley
AVENUE United manager Adrian Walsh believes that his side deserved their victory in Saturday’s cup final but he paid tribute to beaten finalists Newmarket Celtic for forcing the game to extra time.
Speaking shortly after the final whistle had sounded at Frank Healy Park on Saturday evening he said “it was a titanic battle. We knew that the game wasn’t done at 2-0. All credit to Newmarket. That’s why they have won the trophies they have won, they go to the end. They made it 2-2 with the last kick of the game and more power to them”.
Having guided Lifford to reach the 2023 Cup final where they came up short against Avenue, Adrian was in the winner’s enclosure on the biggest day in Clare soccer with the Roslevan club delivering one of their best showings of the season to claim the spoils. “Our boys dug in. We went through a few phases in the game when we didn’t play as much football as we would have liked to. The game could have been over and buried but it didn’t happen. We got our just rewards at the end, we were the better side on the day”.
Asked about their feelings at the end of normal time after Newmarket had hauled themselves back into the contest he said “there weren’t too many words spoken. We didn’t want to be in the position but we had to accept where we were. We said we can either sit back and soak up the pressure and let it go to penalties or we can go on the front foot and play football”.
Dylan Casey in only his second appearance of the year stepped up with the winning goal. “Dylan is a top notch defender, himself and Ethan Cronin excelled. Big named players win games. Eoin Hayes has been doing it for years for Newmarket. I’m delighted for Dylan that he landed the winning goal”.
In advance of the final, Avenue placed a big emphasis on being strong at the back, the Ennis native outlined. “We knew for the last couple of weeks that we had to be strong defensively and we had worked on that. We were poor throughout the season, we knew Newmarket would target that and we knew we had to be good”.
Looking to the future he said “we are young, we will have a bit of crack tonight, we will have a long break, the boys are sick of listening to my voice, we will have a deserved break and we will review the season”.
Walla concluded, “Avenue United want to win titles outside the county but to do that you have to dominate the domestic league as Newmarket have shown. It has been getting harder and harder to do that as there are teams like the Bridge, Tulla, Shannon Town, Moher and Ennis Dons to mention a few. We know it’s going to be competitive. We will look forward to the domestic league, the domestic league cup and the cup and we will see what happens in Munster and with the FAI after that”.
