‘History on top of history’ for County Roscommon club

The phrase “creating history” is often overused, but it is hard to deny that those two words perfectly encapsulate the achievements of St. Joseph’s FC.

The Monksland club secured its second SFAI (Schoolboys/Girls Football Association of Ireland) national title in as many years when they grabbed a 1-0 victory over Leeside United in Sunday’s U-16 Cup decider at the home of Evergreen FC.

On a weekend filled with underage finals, St. Joseph’s were joining top Irish clubs in Shelbourne FC, Shamrock Rovers, Peamount United and St. Kevin’s FC (who saw Liam Brady and Damien Duff come through their underage system) who were all competing for honours last weekend.

St. Joseph’s manager Davy Cummins cut a proud figure as the players posed for photos with family members and friends. He admitted that it was a truly special achievement in the 25th year of the club’s existence.

“It is fantastic. History on top of history. It is something you would never think of in your wildest dreams. Going back to back in SFAI Cups. They’re a fantastic bunch of lads. Great coaches and great staff that helped us out together.

“To be honest, we didn’t think we would do it back to back this year because we had a very tough semi-final against Belvedere, but I think getting over that was huge and it gave us a lot of encouragement to go into the final,” he noted.

The victorious manager was quick to highlight the togetherness and quality within this group of players. St. Joseph’s’ defence was simply magnificent as they kept a clean sheet against a dangerous Leeside outfit, thanks in no small part to the outstanding centre-back pairing of Abdul Odusoga and Dylan Dennehy.

“It was very tough coming up against a big, strong physical side from Cork, but I thought our defence worked very well. I thought Abdul, in particular, at centre-half was fantastic and overall, I think we shaded it. We were the better team on the day.

“Dylan is only back after being out for roughly a year. He got a serious injury in the Galway Cup last year. I think this is only his third competitive game back with us. To have someone like him with his experience, he was playing in the final last year and had a brilliant game.

“He was a man mountain, and he was immense out there. In fairness, the two lads stood up to anything Leeside threw at them,” the St. Joseph’s boss proudly noted.

Cummins believes the successive national titles can be a springboard for this crop of players to reach greater heights.

The St. Joseph’s manager also noted that the quality of player from the South Roscommon club is a good sign for football in the region.

“To be honest, a lot of these lads should be playing League of Ireland. For different reasons they haven’t been picked or opted to stay on. There are a couple of lads there that are well capable of playing League of Ireland.

“What it also says is that the Midlands (Schoolboys/Girls) League is a very good league. Kudos to those guys because it is a strong league. What is coming through the league is proving to be every bit as good as some of the leagues in the country in my opinion. We showed today that a team from the Midlands League can go and compete with the best teams in the country,” he concluded.