LETTERKENNY ROVERS CAPTAIN Darren McElwaine cut a disappointed figure following his side’s loss in the FAI Intermediate Cup final in Dublin yesterday.
The side managed by Eamonn McConigley were comprehensively defeated 5-0 by Crumlin United at the Aviva Stadium so there was an honesty in McElwaine’s appraisal.
Photo caption: Letterkenny Rovers captain Darren McElwaine before yesterday’s FAI Intermediate Cup final against Crumlin United at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo: Geraldine Diver
“You don’t want to not perform in the final on the biggest stage,” he said. “We started the game OK but then they scored two quick goals. Then they were picking us off. To be honest we were glad to go in at 2-0 at half-time.
“The two first goals were very similar. It’s very disappointing. We were very exposed. Even right up the last minute they were the better side so good luck to them. They’d a lot of power and pace.”
[adrotate group=”65″]Crumlin now take on Finn Harps on Saturday in the FAI Senior Cup on Saturday night in Ballybofey in the second round.
“They’ve Finn Harps and they’ll see where they’re at when they face a League of Ireland side. They were very good. They’re just used to keeping the ball. We went in with a few injuries and it was badly exposed.
[adrotate group=”41”]“If the worst day of my life is when we get beat 5-0 at the Aviva Stadium, I’ll live with that. It’d be good to see teams in the Ulster Senior League think they can do the same. We’re not a bad team. We got a lot of support from the businesses in Letterkenny and we didn’t come down to let people down.
“It’s not easy getting beat like that but we’ll take our oil and we’ll move on.”
Listen to McElwaine’s interview in full with Charlie Collins below ..
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/darren-mcelwaine-on-fai-intermediate-cup-final-loss
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