Cork City’s Gary Buckley has one eye on a league and cup double after he scored the winning goal in his side’s narrow 1-0 FAI Cup semi-final victory over Limerick.
With the semi-final coming just four days after a draining league game with champions Dundalk, in which Cork conceded a late goal for a 1-1 draw which delayed their league title coronation, the Rebels had to dig deep against a determined Limerick side.
Fatigue played a factor after Buckley’s 14th minute goal gave his side the lead against Limerick and Cork were hanging on at times, as the visitors pushed for a equaliser.
However City held out to book their place in a third FAI Cup final in three years and Buckley was proud of how his side defended.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "It was a tough game to be fair, especially after the game we played last Monday and the intensity of that game - it was helter-skelter so our energy levels were going to be down today.
"Going into the game all we wanted to do was get through to the next round and that’s what we did, so job done."
Buckley admitted that Cork had to lift themselves after the disappointment of Monday’s draw with Dundalk when a win would have seen them win the league, but he’s now focused on wrapping up the title and going for the double.
"It’s tough to take the way the game went in the last few minutes but we got our heads down on Tuesday morning.
"We’re still in control of the league, so our main aim this week was to get to the final and the double is still on."
John Caulfield admits his side had to dig deep against Limerick in their FAI Cup semi-final, just days after a tough game with Dundalk. pic.twitter.com/KdNsXS4dfd
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) September 29, 2017
Cork City manager John Caulfield echoed Buckley’s comments about the effort that the Cork team have put in over the week but he was slightly more circumspect when talking about the prospect of a double.
"We don’t get to cup finals too often then all of a sudden we’re back three-in-a-row," he told RTÉ Sport. "But it was an incredible performance by both teams, everyone threw everything at it.
"Early on we went ahead and we had a few chances to go further ahead. Then they can at us in the second period of the first half and the second half was a right slog.
"But I suppose if we went back seven days, we came out of Limerick not in a good place and with Monday night and tonight we were back to real passion and moving the ball.
"Overall the team were immense. After Monday night and the effort we dug in and fought for our lives in the second half."
For Caulfield, the main focus now is on claiming the win that would wrap up the league and he insist that thoughts of the FAI Cup final are on hold until that has been achieved.
"The most important thing for us is that we have four games to go in the league. It’s down to the fact that we need two more points and we need a win.
"If we get our hands on the league trophy then we can think about that, but at the moment we’ve won nothing."
