Two years ago Ger O’Brien was one of many St Patrick’s Athletic players scratching about for some consolation in the aftermath of a cup final defeat with the defender suggesting that the injury-time loss might spur the Inchicore outfit onto to greater things in the league the following season.
That it did, and in some style, but for the 30-year-old there's a lingering itch that needs scratching and with the semi-final draw for this year's Ford -sponsored event having, on the face of it, been kind, the Dubliner is hoping that the painful drama of that defeat by Derry still has some motivational power left in it.
“I remember talking to you guys afterwards,” he said yesterday, “and saying we needed to use it as a platform. We went on and we won the league. A lot of the group are still the same and a lot have lost cup finals. It’s not a nice feeling but hopefully we can use that.”
O’Brien and his team-mates started that final as favourites but nothing like as fancied as they are for this Sunday’s game against Finn Harps, the First Division side, whose focus on this game was highlighted by the scale of the changes made for Tuesday’s league defeat at Wexford Youths.
Now, the full-back finds it a little hard at times not to look beyond the game against Ollie Horgan’s side and towards the final where Derry could well provide the opposition again. Sunday he reminds himself, though, needs to be negotiated first.
“It’s a big game, a tough game,” he says. “We’re going in as favourites, there is no doubt about that. Finn Harps are underdogs but we have to perform to beat them. We can’t have any mistakes, no slip-ups and please God if we do, we’ll win the final. Hopefully this group will use the memories of 2012 to spur us on.”
The fans, he acknowledges, will believe it when they see it. More than half a century on from the club’s last cup success, their hopes have been raised too many times and humour is key to battling their frustration.
Every game
“Yeah, they tell you not to enter it, that’s the kind of attitude they have. But listen, it’s great, you want to be at the club where there is pressure and there is pressure on us now. Being out of the league, probably the last seven, eight, nine games, there is pressure; you have to go out and win. Last season, you were going in after every game to see how Dundalk had done.
“Now, we have our own pressure; we know that if we win two games, we win the cup. That’s great; at this stage of the season, you want to be still involved in that.”
More than that, he concludes, you want to win it.
“For me, winning a cup and finishing third in the league will be a successful season. Finishing third and not winning the cup . . . .you know you get European football and some people will look at that as successful . . . .but we’ll be disappointed.”
