Buncrana Hearts boss Duffy lauds 'sweet' victory over rivals Cockhill Celtic

Buncrana Hearts manager Gary Duffy was happy to get one over Premier Division rivals Cockhill Celtic on Sunday and progress to the Ulster Junior Cup Final. 

Extra-time and penalties were required at the Charlie O’Donnell Sportsgrounds on Sunday with nothing separating the sides after 110 minutes, level at 0-0. However, it was Buncrana who came out on top courtesy of a 4-2 shootout victory. 

The Buncrana boss was delighted to get through on the right side of Sunday’s closely contested affair to reach the Ulster Junior Cup showpiece, something which he said you put in the hard work and long hours all year to do. 

“We’re delighted to get to a final”, he said.  “It’s what we coach for throughout the year and it’s why we put in the long nights in the winter, to put in the hard work and win a trophy. So we’re now in a final so we’re one step closer to try and win a trophy.

“Ourselves and Cockhill are big rivals so it’s always sweet to get one over them in their own backyard,”

Playing on their own turf, Cockhill put a lot of pressure on the visitors' penalty area for spells of Sunday’s semi-final however, Buncrana were resilient and withstood the applied pressure to bring the contest all the way. 

Duffy was very pleased with the performance of his outfit, who were without a number of players for the game, to get through to the next round of the competition.

“Cockhill are always going to put pressure on you in their own backyard, they’ve got a style of play and they’re very effective at it. They’re giants and there’s no getting away from that”, discussed the Buncrana manager. 

“So for us to come out here and put in a performance with some of the players that we’re missing, we’re missing one or two players and we lost Kevin O’Loughlin early on and we also lost Adam Curran in the game and you’re looking and going ‘this is going to be a big hill to climb’.”

He continued, “However, the boys kept their discipline and kept their shape and overall I thought it was a dogged match, probably not a nice one to watch but look cup football is always about getting into the next round.”

Moments from the conclusion of extra-time, Buncrana Hearts brought on substitute ‘keeper Eoghan O’Doherty for the spot-kicks. It proved to be the decisive decision with O’Doherty being the hero of the hour, saving two penalties in the shootout to send Buncrana through. 

When asked about the decision after the game, the Buncrana manager stated that if the game went to spot-kicks, the decision was made during the week to bring on O’Doherty, a life-long Buncrana Hearts player who Duffy can’t speak highly enough of.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Eoghan (O’Doherty), he’s been at the club his whole life. We nearly lost him there at the start of the season, he was thinking about leaving because Rory (Kelly) left and Taylor (Clarke) came in and did well in pre-season.

“But we know what Eoghan can do in the penalties and myself and John spoke about it during the week that if it went that far then we were making the call to put him on. You always know that Eoghan is going to probably pull off one save and he pulled off the first two today so it’s unbelievable. I’m delighted for the man because he’s a top class fella”, said Duffy proudly.

Thanks to Sunday’s victory, Buncrana Hearts will now face Letterkenny Rovers in the final of the Ulster Senior Cup. When told that he and his side will now face Rovers in the competition’s showpiece, Duffy insisted that it’ll be a good battle between the sides but hopes his men can bring home the cup to complete three-in-a-row. 

“Lovely, back in the good old days then of Buncrana against Letterkenny, back when I was watching football. I would know Danny McConnell, his son Stephen is manager of the Letterkenny Rovers so we’ll have a good battle against them.

“Hopefully it’s in Maginn Park and we’ll have a good rattle and hopefully take the cup back. We’ve won it two years in a row so pray to God it’s going to be a third.”