Enda McGuill under 21 League Cup Final

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On Saturday evening Cork City will take on Sligo-Leitrim and District League in the final of this year’s Enda McGuill under21 League Cup.

Kick-off at Turners Cross is at 7 pm. Both sides will be taking part in the final for the first time and Sligo-Leitrim do so in their first season competing at this level.

Speaking ahead of the final, eircom League under21 Development Officer Pat Duffy said:

“This is a wonderful occasion for both teams tonight. Sligo-Leitrim are in their first season and they have become the Cup specialists accounting for Galway United, Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United. I would like to thank Noel Kennedy and Enda Scanlon for the excellent work they have done in such a short time. Reaching this final at their first attempt is a wonderful achievement for the Sligo-Leitrim League.”

“Cork City are making their third appearance in an under21 Cup final. Holders of the Dr Tony O’Neill Cup for the past two years, they will be bidding to win the Enda McGuill Cup for the first time.”

“Cork City have set the standard at under21 level over the past two seasons. Manager Stuart Ashton has done an excellent job with the development of young players in Cork resulting in being awarded with a coaching job to the eircom League under21 Representative team in the last Four Nation Tournament. “

Cork City’s form at this level this season has seen them win 13 and draw 2 of their 15 league and cup games. Along the way they have scored a total of 52 goals and conceded a mere 3.

Looking forward to the final, manager Stuart Ashton had this to say:

“Luckily for us we’re playing well at the moment. Denis (Behan) is scoring the goals, the other strikers have notched in and we have the midfielders involved as well so at the moment we’re on a rich vein for scoring goals and long may it last.”

“Next up is the final and we’ll have a few headaches during the week. Jamie (Nolan) has come back, Denis (Behan) is banging them in and young Shane (Long) has played two games now and has got four goals so as a manager it’s what we want. For the players, obviously we’re trying to keep them all happy, but that’s part of football and the lads know the situation so it’s up to them to keep the shirt when they get it.”

“Obviously it’s a nice one for the lads to play in the Cross and it will be under floodlights which, I feel anyway, makes for a nice atmosphere and hopefully through the right advertisement and everything during the week we’ll have a good crowd there.”

In the past few weeks striker Denis Behan has been the star of the under21 side, bagging 13 goals in the last 6 games including two hat-tricks. The Abbeyfeale man is also looking forward to playing at Turners Cross and attributes much of the side’s success to his manager:

“We play every game as a final. Sligo-Leitrim will be new territory for us again so we’ll treat them with as much respect as we can.”

“It’s great to have it at the Cross. The fact that it’s on at seven o’clock on a Saturday night, you know, hopefully we’ll get a good crowd there to support us as much as they can. We got a good crowd there the last season for the final of the under21s, the Tony O’Neill Cup, so hopefully if we get a crowd out there and the weather is good we’ll put on a good performance and see what we can do.”

“Well, Stuart Ashton has a lot to do with that, he picks the team, you know, and Pat Dolan, but yeah it’s a great record. Not too many teams can do that. We’re trying to catch Arsenal at this stage! Fifteen games is a great record and we’re scoring goals as well which is a great thing.”