By Ed Leahy
Talk to anyone associated with St Patrick’s Athletic and they will regale you with tales of gloom and doom about their personal FAI Cup experiences, as there is over a half century worth of near misses and glorious failures since the Inchicore club’s last Cup success back in 1961.
But it is not just an ailment that afflicts the older generation of Saints supporters; it is a baton that is passed, season-to-season, in the hope that one day, it will be dropped and kicked out to touch once and for all.
Ger O’Brien is only at the club three years, but his tale is a familiar one, as a member of the side that were beaten in the 2012 FAI Ford Cup final at the Aviva Stadium.
“I haven’t looked at the medal since; never opened the box,” said O’Brien about the consolation prize of a Cup final loser’s badge. “It’s still sitting in my mother’s house. I don’t think I’ll ever open it.”
And while O’Brien and the Saints players who were part of that defeat two years ago are reluctant to revisit that dark Dublin day, victory on Sunday afternoon in the first of the semi-final double-headers, could perhaps allow St Pat’s to revisit that defeat and learn from that losing experience.
In fact, O’Brien explains that the entire 2012 season was, despite its disappointing finish, the “platform” from which they built upon, leading to their league-winning campaign in 2013.
"If you don’t win on the day, you don’t like remembering these things" - Ger O'Brien on losing the 2012 final
“We had a taste of it [losing an FAI Cup final] two years ago, unfortunately we came out on the wrong side against Derry,” said O’Brien. “It was a great game but if you don’t win on the day, you don’t like remembering these things.
“But they’re great occasions. The build up to the final is great and that alone is reason enough to get to a final. We want to be there and we want to make sure we perform on Sunday.
“We have an awful lot of people that were in that dressing room still (at the club) and we sat down as a group after the 2012 cup final and we used one word, platform.
“We needed to use that season, which was a good season, Liam’s first season, finishing third in the league and beaten in a cup final. And there was heartbreak and we were devastated, but we used it as a platform and we went on and won the league last season. So to be successful this season for me, we need to win a cup.”
O’Brien also admits that Sunday’s meeting with Harps was the ideal draw for Liam Buckley’s side as they avoided Premier League pair Shamrock Rovers and Derry City, securing a home tie against the Donegal outfit.
But Saints are refusing to take victory for granted and they will hold off, for the moment, on getting measured up for their Cup final suits, knowing that they will face a tough task against the First Division side.
O’Brien added: “What we wanted was a home draw, which we got, and I’m sure all three Premier Division teams were hoping to get Finn Harps at home, which we got, but obviously that adds a bit more pressure.
“This cup competition is our best chance to land silverware this season, and we’re not taking it lightly" - Ger O'Brien
“This cup competition is our best chance to land silverware this season, and we’re not taking it lightly. Dave Campbell has done a lot of work on them already. We have DVDs, he has gone to watch them, we have everything.
“We would have known Rovers or Derry having played them three times already this season, but Finn Harps are an unknown quantity.
“We haven’t seen them on Soccer Republic but we do know that they have players who have played in the Premier Division, the likes of Kevin McHugh and Michael Funston are still there. They’re going to be good professionals and are going to be working hard and they’re only 90 minutes away from the final.
“Liam won the cup with Sporting Fingal from the First Division so it can be done.”
And while the FAI Cup is a great way to secure silverware for the club, there is a sense of what might have been for the defender who believes that their recent run of form is too little to late in their failed bid to retain the league title.
O’Brien added: “When people looked at out squad at the start of the season, they would have pinpointed us as the favourites to win the league and rightly so because of who we signed, adding to an already good squad.
“I wouldn’t say we underachieved, but left ourselves short in some areas this season. Defensively, we will be looked at because we had two great years, not conceding many goals, but I think we used 18 or 19 combinations this season, which is crazy as you are never going to get consistency. But we won’t use that as an excuse.
“I’m disappointed. Last year we had a taste of that (success) but this year, it’s not nice looking up at Dundalk and Cork ahead of us. But we have left it too late and we have no one to blame but ourselves.
“It’s a difficult thing to do at every level, from junior football right up to the Champions League. No team has retained the Champions League and they are the top players in the world. We’re not going to do it this year; we’re disappointed with that, but we can still have a successful season if we can turn over Finn Harps, get to a final and win that.”
And O’Brien is under no illusion about the way fans down by the banks of the Camac are thinking every time the FAI Cup rears its head.
"We could make history here and be that first team in 53 years to lift that trophy" -Ger O'Brien
“When the draw is made for the first round, Pat’s fans are sure that they are out already and they want to play that old card that they will never win it. But they really want to win it. And us as players, we could make history here and be that first team in 53 years to lift that trophy.
“And just like Rovers, who haven’t won in twenty-something years, it’s a long time for clubs like Pat’s and Rovers not to lift that trophy and there is a big romance between the two clubs for the Cup so maybe that’s written in the stars for that final.”
Watch St Patrick’s Athletic v Finn Harps live on RTÉ2 or worldwide on www.rte.ie, Sunday, 5 October, kick-off 1:45pm.
