History was created in Tralee as a late Daniel Okwute goal snatched an epic FAI quarter-final win for Kerry FC as the Kingdom miraculously came from three goals down to win after extra time and book their place in their first ever semi-final.
Five-time Cup winners Sligo Rovers looked like they were cruising to a comfortable win when Owen Elding secured his hat-trick to put the visitors 3-0 up just after the hour mark, but a brace from Cian Brosnan and a Joe Adams penalty brought the game to extra time.
The impossible became the possible when Brosnan's close-range effort kept the Kingdom's FAI Cup dreams alive and forced an extra 30 minutes
The rest, as they say, is history as mission impossible was accomplished late, late on.
Both teams arrived at a sold-out Mounthawk Park in a good vein of form, each unbeaten in their last three league and cup games, and it was the Premier Division side who failed to weather a late Kerry FC storm on a damp and dull evening in the southwest.
Early in the contest, the Bit O'Red tried to gain a grasp of proceedings, while Colin Healy's side searched for chances on the counter-attack as they sought to reach their first FAI Cup semi-final against the Premier Division strugglers.
Kerry’s FAI Cup dreams looked like they were over when with just 16 minutes on the clock, a quickfire double from Elding silenced the Kingdom faithful.
The first – after just 14 minutes – saw Elding rise above a flat-footed Kerry defence to head home a deep, floating James McManus cross in off the far post.
Disaster struck for the home side just 90 seconds later when a moment of magic saw Elding score his second – a superb half-volley on the end of a headed flick on from Sebastian Quirk to put daylight between the two sides.
The contest came alive following the two opening goals, as Ronan Teahan, making his 100th appearance for Kerry, continued to be the creative outlet for Healy’s charges, supplying ball to Robert Cleary, but a comfortable-looking Sligo were still in control of proceedings.
Chasing the game at this stage, Colin Healy made the decision to change from a back five to four in defence as the speedy forward Brosnan replaced Daniel O’Connor, giving the hosts a much-need burst of pace on the break as part of a fresh looking 4-4-2 formation.
Kerry came close to halving the deficit as their best chance of the half came on the verge of the interval, but Sligo did well to clear their lines as Robbie Cleary and Joe Adams were beaten to a dangerous-looking Brosnan cross.
Both sides were forced to make one change each from their respective last league outings against Cobh and Bohemian FC, with Kevin Williams coming in for the cup-tied Ewan Lee, while the suspended Will Fitzgerald was replaced by James McManus.
Kerry upped the tempo in the second half and came close eight minutes into the final 45 as Sligo keeper Sam Sargeant could only watch on as Kevin Williams’ blistering effort from distance was deflected narrowly over the bar.
However, Sligo were three to the good four minutes after the hour mark as a Elding’s cross was deflected off Chris McQueen to beat Matt Connor at his near post.
Okwute, introduced just four minutes earlier, came close to opening the mark for Kerry but Sargeant did well to close down the lively forward as he attempted to lift it over the Sligo keeper.
Minutes later, substitute Cian Brosnan pulled one back for Kerry, opening up his body with a lovely finish into the far corner – a sign of things to come – to give Kerry a fighting chance.
Okwute, making a massive difference since his introduction on the hour mark, again caused the Sligo defence all sorts of problems, but the 21-year-old former Finn Harps winger’s shot from a tight angle was brilliantly saved by Sargeant.
And with just 10 minutes remaining on the clock, the impossible became the possible when Joe Adams converted from the spot after Okwute was fouled in the penalty area.
The miraculous comeback was complete when Brosnan tapped home from close range in the 90th minute after a low Okwute cross found the Tralee youngster at the edge of the six-yard box.
After a nervy extra time period, Brosnan could have stolen the win with 10 minutes to go, but his curling cross hit the far post, much to the delight of Sargeant.
And just as the game looked like it was going to penalties, up stepped gamechanger Okwute, who was involved in all four of Kerry’s goals since coming on as a substitute on the hour mark, blasting home to end what will go down as the greatest night in Kerry’s history.
Kerry FC: Matthew Connor; Kevin Williams (Daniel Okwute 60), Christopher McQueen, Daniel O’Connor (Cian Brosnan 27), Niall Brookwell, Oran Crowe, Sean O’Connell; Carl Mujaguzi (Finn Barrett 60), Oran Crowe (Arran Healy 75); Joe Adams, Robert Cleary (Sean McGrath 75), Ronan Teahan (capt.)
Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant; Edwin Agbaje, Oliver Denham, Patrick McClean (capt.), Sean Stewart (Kyle McDonagh 101); Ciaron Harkin (Wilson Waweru 101), Sebastian Quirk; Ryan O’Kane (Matthew Woulfe 82), Jad Hakiki (Ronan Manning 61), James McManus; Owen Elding
Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan (Cork)
