Mixed emotions for Celtic after FAI Cup thriller

There was disappointment no doubt, but there was also an immense feeling of pride from Castlebar Celtic after they gave Longford Town everything they had in their Sports Direct FAI Cup second round tie.

It speaks volumes how far the Hoops have come under Stevie Gavin and Declan Flynn over the past three and a half years. From mid-table in the Super League to three-in-a-row champions, Super Cup, divisional cup, quadruples, unbeaten seasons and back-to-back Connacht Cup, they have become the undisputed number one club side in the county and they while they fell away in the end against the established League of Ireland side, Celtic can holds their heads high.

“I'm very proud,” said Gavin, who enjoyed a spell with Longford in his playing days. “Of course, we're disappointed losing the game but that's the premier competition in this country. Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, all these teams playing and competing, hoping to win it and Longford hope to go on and win it. We competed well for the 90 minutes. At the end, I suppose their bench and maybe the fact that they're semi-pro, I think, did come into effect but listen, it's hard to fault our lads. 

“We're not into valiant defeats or anything like that. Myself and Dec, we are flat at the minute, but to score three goals was brilliant. People come to football games sometimes and there's a big build up and they've got nothing to cheer. Especially in the first half and even for a lot of the second, there was plenty to cheer and some fantastic moments for the players and supporters, so we're delighted with that.” 

 Gavin admitted his disappointment at how the goals were conceded and says his side will learn from a valuable experience, “It's not like us. We're very disappointed with that. Listen, that’s sport. I suppose they're looking at the goals they're conceded against us and they're really disappointed but ours was good play and some of those was good play. They’re good players. We have to learn from that and try whenever we're playing again not to kind of get caught like that.” 

Celtic striker Jordan Loftus, who netted the equaliser before the break from a penalty, was proud of his teammates and reflected back on their journey to date Super proud. Great performance. Very valiant effort. I’m emotional about it. Just proud of the boys.

“It's been a great few years. There's been a lot of people saying we deserve this, we deserve that and I hate that phrase in life. I just hate it, no one deserves anything. But being honest, speaking to Ioseph [O’Reilly] before for the game, after all we've put in over last few years, the body of work, we did deserve it. we did deserve this.

“We couldn't do the job but again, we're an amateur side at the end of the day. I think 75th minute, 78th minute, we kind of just fell off a bit and just shows the next step is the fitness levels. We can be super proud though. Football ability, we were there, thereabouts.” 

As he alluded to, Loftus admitted the conditioning of Longford’s squad made a big difference, although the quality was not as far off from previous experiences in big games for Celtic over the past three years.

“It wasn’t that different. We got the same kind of level of game against your Mervues, against your Salthills, against your Westports as well, and credit to them in fairness.

“It was similar, it was just the longevity of it. It was just constant, constant, constant. You saw our players cramping up a little bit at the end, that just shows they probably train more, in better condition. The professional aspect. It's just that next step but if it's 15 minutes I think we can all work that bit harder to get 15 minutes extra, we're there or thereabouts.” 

It’s back to domestic matters now for Celtic, who will look to complete a perfect league season this week with victories away to Ballyhaunis Town and Ballyheane, before facing Ballinrobe Town at home in the Mayo Super Cup semi-final Thursday week.