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Ethan Boyle: Cup underdogs Wexford can go all the way

Ethan Boyle is eying up a historic FAI Cup win
Ethan Boyle is eying up a historic FAI Cup win

The remaining FAI Cup semi-final pits two of the form sides of the country against each other, and it may not be the last time they meet this season.

Drogheda United appear on course to avoid automatic relegation in the Premier Division, after losing just once in their last eight league outings.

Should they finish in ninth, they will face the winners of the four-team First Division play-offs for the right to play top-flight football next year, with Wexford still very much in the promotion mix.

James Keddy's men put together a run of five straight wins in August and early September and they now sit fifth in the second tier, despite the distraction of a run to the FAI Cup semis.

Juggling a promotion push with a cup run would be a challenge for any squad but for Wexford skipper Ethan Boyle, it's just part of the game.

"I try not to think about it, if I'm honest," said the former Shamrock Rovers man.

"I know it sounds cliché but you just try and deal with it one game at a time. Just tick them off, one game at a time. You kind of have to try and park this big game for the last couple of weeks because we had league games to play.

"Now, you have to park the league and focus on the cup. It’s just game by game, don’t get carried away and deal with each task as it comes to you."

This is the fourth year in a row that a First Division side has reached the semi-final but it's not something that Boyle had envisaged for Wexford at the start of the season.

On their journey to the last four, Wexford have beaten non-league opposition in Wayside Celtic and Ballyfermot United, before a 4-1 victory at home to Treaty United in the quarter-final.

Drogheda will therefore be the first top flight test for the men from Ferrycarrig Park and Boyle is confident that Wexford can go to Weavers Park and cause an upset.

Wexford's Ethan Boyle (L) and Lewis Temple at the Aviva Stadium

"I wouldn't have thought that far ahead," he says. "At the beginning of the year, you’re just concentrating on the league but it’s nice to be here now.

"The whole point of the cup is luck of the draw. Whoever you get, you never know what might happen. As the rounds go on, of course it becomes more possible in your mind, can we go all the way?

"Can we make the final? Now we’re here at the semi-final stage and it’s a possibility. It will still be hard work but it’s a possibility."

Boyle was speaking earlier in the week, before Derry City booked their place in the final with a 2-0 win over Bohemians on Friday night.

The double-chasing Candystripes would prove an even bigger scalp than Drogheda, should Wexford get into the final and pull off another big shock.

While they may have promotion on their minds, Boyle isn't underestimating the prospect of lifting the famous old trophy for the first time in the club's history.

"It would be huge," he adds. "It would be historic for the club. For myself and my family, it would be a dream come true."

Watch the FAI Cup semi-final, Drogheda United v Wexford, on Sunday from 2.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app

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