Fairview Rangers claim President’s Cup with dramatic penalty shootout win over Willowbank FC in Tallaght

Fairview Rangers left it late but sealed a first ever President’s Cup win with a penalty shootout victory over Willowbank FC.

After claiming FAI Cup Honours, Fairview Rangers completed a historic double after defeating Belfast’s Willowbank FC in the President’s cup final on Saturday.

The final that pits the FAI cup champions with the IFA winners was played in Tallaght stadium with AJ O’Connor becoming the first Limerick man to lift the trophy.

Fairview certainly gave themselves plenty of work to do after a first half that saw the Ulster side claim a two goal lead.

Richard McEvoy opened the scoring for Willowbank after 33 minutes with Pearse Devine doubling that lead five minutes later.

Shane Duggan halved the deficit four minutes into the second half, controlling Mike O’Gorman’s pass before finding the corner of the net.

Both sides engaged in an end to end battle late on with neither able to find a crucial goal in normal time.

But with six minutes of additional time indicated, Ross Mann found the final touch in the Willowbank box to send the game to penalties.

In a battle of the keepers, Aaron Savage came up trumps for the Limerick outfit as his three penalty saves afforded Steven Bradley the chance to seal the win from the spot which he made no mistake with.