History
After two defeats in Cup Finals in the 1970s, Drogheda United finally reached the summit in 2005. Goals from Gavin Whelan (whose father, Paul, captained Bohemians to the 1992 cup and whose grandfather, Ronnie, won 2 cups with St. Patrick's Athletic) and captain Declan O'Brien helped "the Drogs" to a 2-0 win over Cork City.
Shelbourne, Bohemians and Derry City are the only clubs to win both the (Northern) Irish Cup and the FAI Cup, although Shelbourne and Bohemians only won it before partition, while Derry City remained in the Northern Irish league system until 1973, entering the League of Ireland in 1985.
The last ever soccer game to be played at the old Lansdowne Road was the 2006 final, contested between St. Patrick's Athletic and Derry City, who ran out eventual 4-3 winners after extra-time. The original FAI Cup was also retired after the game with a brand new version of the trophy to be used in the following seasons.
Athlone Town A.F.C. in 1924, Dundalk F.C. in 1958, Shamrock Rovers F.C. in 1968, Sligo Rovers in 2010 are the only four sides to ever win the Cup without conceding a goal. In addition to this feat Sligo Rovers were also able to keep there clean sheets in tact by not conceding in the penalty shoot-out against Shams in the 2010 final.
Since 2003, Irish domestic football has moved from the traditional European August–May season to a summer set-up, as favoured in Scandinavia. As an "interim" season was played in the second half of 2002, two FAI Cup Finals took place that year - Dundalk winning April's Cup, Derry City lifting the trophy in November.
Read more about this topic: FAI Cup
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“False history gets made all day, any day,
the truth of the new is never on the news
False history gets written every day
...
the lesbian archaeologist watches herself
sifting her own life out from the shards she’s piecing,
asking the clay all questions but her own.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)