WATCH | Pike Rovers looking to “do the business” in FAI Junior Cup final

It’s an exciting week for Pike Rovers with their Junior team in action in the FAI Cup final.

Pike Rover’s are looking to seal the deal with their first Junior Cup final win in 11 years this Sunday in Turner’s Cross against Waterford outfit Villa FC.

The Hoops snatched a place in the final earlier this month with a win over Oliver Bond in Richmond with Evan Patterson and Eoin Hanrahan grabbing the goals in their 2-1 victory.

Villa found it easy to get past Salthill beating them 4-1 in the other semi-final.

Manager Robbie Williams will be hoping it’s third time lucky for his team making three finals in the last seven years, missing out against Sheriff YC in 2016 and then losing again in 2018 to North End on penalties.

Eoin Hanrahan and Pa Mullins have been through it all with the club reflect on the hardships and look forward to the game.

The switch of venue for the final from the Aviva to Turner’s Cross is sure to be a lot more reassuring to players given the daunting nature of the Aviva.

“Obviously it’s a big occasion above in the Aviva but you always felt like you were just a bit over odd, it was very hard if you were on the far side of the pitch away from the dugouts your trying to get the managers calls and that, it’s very hard to hear.”

The team knows what it takes to compete in games like this with a lot of the squad being there in the win of 2011 and then the losses of 2016 and 2018.

“They’re no easy task to bring home, so look we’ll be hoping that it falls our way this Sunday and we can get rid of those bad memories of 2016 and 2018.”

With Villa FC having the ability to be so dominant in attack, Hanrahan backs his team to bring the battle to them.

“We’ve seen their results in the quarter-finals and semi-finals scoring goals but in saying that we haven’t been conceding too many goals either, I know they won the league down below but I think all the focus this weekend is on ourselves.”

Watch the full pre match interview with Mullins and Hanrahan below.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Accept YouTube Content