Daniel McDaid the hero as Carndonagh U19s make it third time lucky at Foyle Cup

It was a case of third time lucky, as Carndonagh secured the prestigious O’Neills Foyle Cup U19 section, seeing off Trojans, after a dramatic penalty shoot-out, at a packed McCourt’s.

The Donegal teenagers, who lost to Derry City and Maiden City in the last two under 19 finals, had goalkeeper Daniel McDaid to thank as he made the crucial stop, keeping out John McCorry’s penalty, to secure the title.

For Carndonagh boss Lorcan Bradley, he was thrilled that his side finally got over the line this year.

“Penalties are always scary, but over the moon wouldn’t be the word for how I’m feeling for the boys,” stated Bradley.

“The last two years we have suffered final heartbreak, losing to Derry City and then Maiden City last year, but we bounced back this year and thankfully we finally got over the line to win the cup.

“The Foyle Cup week is always special, it’s huge, because you’re taking boys together, who haven’t even met before, some of our guys didn’t even know fellow team-mates names at the start of the week and by Friday night they’re brothers-in-arms.

“There are going to be even better mates now celebrating with that trophy. But no, the Foyle Cup is special and it’s a great week.”
Bradley conceded that his squad was only selected the night before the competition got underway and they only got into the tournament, because Phoenix dropped out.

“Phoenix pulling out is the only reason why we got into the competition and got our hands on the trophy,” he explained.

“We were still picking players last Sunday night and discussing who we were going to take. We’ve a young team this year compared to previous years, so fair play to the younger lads stepping up and thankfully they’ll be here next year, back to defend the trophy.”
The Carndonagh gaffer praised their shoot-out hero McDaid, who also played a big role in their semi-final win over Maiden City.

“Daniel McDaid, two nights in a row came up with the goods for us,” he added. “On Thursday night he saved Maiden’s sixth penalty to get us through to the final and then tonight he saved their seventh penalty, so if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have had a chance to win anything.

“So for him to save their last penalty, it means he’s our hero tonight.”
As for the final itself, neither side really got going on the slick McCourt’s pitch, with the two best chances in the 70 minutes came in the second half.

Trojans’ pacey winger Oran Carlin burst clear down the left after skipping away from a few challenges, but he failed to test McDaid and fired wide.

While in the closing stages the Donegal side missed a glorious chance to win the final in normal time.

A long ball over the top caught out Trojans’ Dylan Watson, the big defender slipped on the half-way line and let in striker Matthew McGoldrick, but the front-man took too long to decide what to do and Trojans’ fellow centre-back Zach Dougherty got back to make a superb sliding challenge to block McGoldrick’s close range shot.

The dreaded spot-kicks saw the Derry men take an early advantage as Ross Farren fired wide, leaving Caoimhin Ramsey the chance to win it, but he blazed over from 12 yards.

Carndonagh capitalised on their second chance and McDaid dived to his right to keep out McCorry sudden death spot-kick and spark wild celebrations amongst the players.

Teams

Trojans; Tayler Clark, Ben Whoriskey, Reece Bell, Dylan Watson, Zach Dougherty, Noah Doherty, Caoimhin Ramsey, John McCorry, Adam Mason, Josh Gallagher, Oran Carlin, Henry Boyd, Ben Quigley, Stephen Waller, Odhran Devine, Cormac Kelly, James Tourish, Shea Fox, Jamie Toland.

Carndonagh: Daniel McDaid, Shay Harkin, Callum Kelly, Kalvin McLaughlin, Sean O’Carroll, Sheagan Doherty, LIam McWeeney, Tieran Doherty, Matthew McGoldrick, Ross Farren. Conor McCloskey, Conan Gibbons, MIchael McCarron, Daire Tully, Thomas McGeough, Ciaran O’Kane, Jamie Doherty, Mark Doherty.

Referee: RIchard Fullicks.