Toal’s Bookmakers Co Antrim Steel & Sons Cup final: Newington 1 Linfield Swifts 0
NEWINGTON’S Steel & Sons Cup winning manager Conor Crossan hailed the work-rate and discipline of his players that saw them make history on Christmas Day.
Padraig Scollay’s late strike against hot favourites Linfield Swifts proved enough to see the north Belfast club win the coveted trophy for the first time in their 38-year history.
Crossan admitted seeing the Steel Cup in the same room while having Christmas dinner with his family was “hard to take in”.
Surrounded by photographers at the final whistle at a rainy Seaview, it took the Newington manager a while to realise what his team had achieved.
“At the final whistle I couldn’t believe we’d won it,” he said.
“I can’t even remember who grabbed me. It took me a couple of minutes to come around and find Davy Dorrian [Linfield Swifts manager] to shake his hand and after that I was just looking for my kids [Gerard and Riain].
In a game of few chances, Newington broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute thanks to a perfectly executed volley from inside the penalty area by Scollay.
Four minutes earlier, Swifts danger man Eamonn Scannell came closest to opening the scoring with a rasping left-footed drive from 25 yards that breezed past Newington’s post.
After Scollay’s strike, the Blues pushed hard for an equaliser and with substitute Timmy Browne about to pull the trigger in stoppage-time, Newington central defender Richard Gowdy made an incredible block to protect his side’s precious advantage.
“It’s probably one of the best performances we’ve produced this season, particularly the togetherness of the team,” said Crossan, who has been managing the club’s first team for over two years.
“I enjoyed the game from start to finish and I enjoyed the build-up over the last couple of weeks.”
The free-scoring Swifts entered Monday morning’s final with a weighty reputation having hit five goals or more in six of their league games this season.
But Davy Dorrian’s young side couldn’t get to grips with their opponents’ greater physicality and experience.
Crossan added: “Being written off before the final probably annoyed a couple of our players but I always knew we had the beating of Linfield Swifts. I watched them in the semi-final when they beat Immaculata and I was confident we would win the final. Our discipline and our work-rate were key on the day.”
After working with the Newington reserve team for nine years or more, Crossan said that nothing would eclipse the feeling of winning the Steel Cup.
“I remember winning the Amateuer League Division 3A title over in Paisley Park – I was assistant manager to Thomas Duffy – and I really enjoyed that, to be honest. That was massive.
“But winning the Steel & Sons Cup is unbelievable because of the prestige of the competition. Seeing the cup sitting in my mum’s house having Christmas dinner was hard to take in.”
Goal hero Scollay said apart from the birth of his daughter Anna, winning the Steel Cup was the “best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“I owe it to Conor,” said the 33-year-old front man.
“He showed faith in me... Just to be involved in this is incredible. I do everything for my family – for Anna and my partner Patrice.
“There were three or four opportunities that fell to me in the game, but they were being deflected and [for the goal] when the throw in came over I just had a feeling it was going to come to me and luckily enough it went in.
“But it’s not only about me scoring the goal – it’s about everybody involved in the team and the players that didn’t make the squad. You do it for them as well. That’s why you play football.”
Newington dominated midfield with man-of-the-match Kevin Niblock and Joe McDonnell quelling Linfield’s threat while Gowdy marshalled the defence with typical tenacity.
Swifts manager Davy Dorrian acknowledged that a lack of big-game experience cost his young side at Seaview.
“We’d three 16-year-olds, a couple of 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old in our team,” said Dorrian.
“It was a learning experience and we will definitely learn from this… I thought we were nervous. There weren’t many clear-cut chances for either team. It was a tight game but they put us under pressure from set pieces and were physical, but fair play to the lad, it was a good strike.
“I thought it was going to extra-time and when they scored we didn’t have a lot of time to get back into the game.”
Crossan heaped praise on his backroom team – Paul Hamilton, Thomas Duffy, Sean Adams, Peter Hynes, Peter and Paul Feighan – and acknowledged the work of former coach Darrach Teague who had been drafted in to watch the opposition in the lead-up to Monday’s decider.
Sitting at the wrong end of the NIFL Intermediate table, Crossan hopes their historic triumph on Christmas Day will inspire the side to getting more points on the board.
“We’ll hopefully build on this now, get a few players in and try and climb the table.”
Newington: D Smyth, C McFall, B O’Neill, S O Moore, R Gowdy, J McDonnell, C Burns, P Gilgunn (K O’Neill 86), S Doyle (G Rafferty 81), K Niblock, P Scollay (R Morrison) Subs not used: S Begley, P Hanvey
Linfield Swifts: A Moore, T McComb (R Weatherup 86), R Neale, C McGuinness, R O’Hare, M Lynch, A Carroll, L Harrison, R Strain (C Murray 65), E Scannell, D Truesdale (T Browne 50) Subs not used: C Gemmel, S Pengelly
Referee: Iain Banks
