'This will be a day that will be talked about for years' - Gavin Cullen

It's just over a year since Cockhill Celtic suffered defeat on penalties to Rockmount in the FAI Intermediate Cup final, but Cockhill Celtic manager Gavin Cullen was confident that it would be a different tale for his side this time around.

In a moment of victory when Garbhan Friel slotted home that decisive penalty in the shootout under the Galway sunshine to capture the FAI Junior Cup, Cullen’s immediate reaction was to punch the air in joy.

A feeling of raw emotion so strong that it appeared like a giant weight was lifted from his shoulders.  

No doubt when he reflects on the game with his squad following the cup final celebrations, he will conclude that the margins between success and failure are just so slim.  

“This is a fantastic day for the club, you can see what it means to the people, the supporters, the players, everyone. It’s unbelievable,” said Cullen following his side’s FAI Junior Cup final victory over Wexford side Gorey Rangers where the Inishowen side prevailed 3-1 on penalties following 110 minutes of football. 

The current Inishowen league champions entered the final as heavy favourites on the day but had to recover after Gorey landed an early goal when Stephen Kinsella’s 30-yard free kick found its way past goalkeeper Harry Doherty, but the Cockhill manager never seemed to panic believing that his side was more than capable of pulling it back. 

“We would’ve been disappointed with giving up the early goal,” Cullen admitted. “I think it took us a while to settle into the match, but all credit to Gorey they stuck with us the entire game and caused us serious problems. 

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because it was a national final, but we never got going in the first half, I think we may have retreated into our shells, but once we regrouped in the second half, we sort of took control and that was really without playing well. 

“We were confident that we could land an equaliser, but as time ticks away and you still don’t have that goal to your name you start to maybe get a bit nervous, but we always believed that the lads would pull through and thankfully they did.” 

“I think when Garbhan scored that penalty, it was just an outpouring of relief, to be honest, but truthfully, this is nothing less than what these players deserve because we’ve won everything locally and the only thing we were missing was a national title, I’m just so happy that we reached that summit today.” 

In a game of real twists and turns, Cullen felt there was a lot of hardship thrown at his Cockhill side, but he praised his players for battling hard right to the end. 

“I think there were a few unfortunate calls that didn’t go our way, we could’ve had a penalty, that was waved on, the goal before half time that fell over the line was disallowed, Jimmy Bradley being sent off was very harsh, but these are things we had to deal with and I think we did that well this afternoon.” 

Cullen was quick to reflect on the hardship of losing in the Intermediate Cup final last year and how his team bounced back with a fierce determination to win today. 

“I know there was a lot of hurt carried from last season into the year and massive credit has to go to these players, like to win this competition you have to do a bit, we played nine games and only conceded two goals throughout, so it shows the drive of these lads to win every game. 

“It’s been a great year, now we still have a lot more games to come which will keep us busy but for now we’re going to celebrate. There have been a lot of great players from the county who have never won this cup, so we’re delighted to have done it. This will be talked about for years to come.”