2021 Covid Cup

For the first time ever, the Friday Night League (formerly known as Limerick Winter League) kicked off a summer tournament. The inaugural (and hopefully exaugural) Covid Cup saw 8 teams battle it out over three June Friday nights. Being able to leave the UL pitches after 9pm while the sun was still out was a welcome change to the usual dark winter nights the competition is accustomed to. 

In the spirit of randomness and uncertainty - a common theme of the last year - no seedings were used in the draw for the Covid Cup. This produced a somewhat lopsided draw with the top three teams from the 2019/20 season all finding themselves at the same side of the draw. 

Quarter-finals 

Kearney's Army faced St Pauli FC with the winner playing the winner of Bluestreak and new recruits Newtown MGM. A good opportunity for one of these four teams to make their way to a final. On night one, Kearney's Army did the business with a 3-1 win over St Pauli FC to book their place in the Cup semi-final. St Pauli FC would drop into the semi-finals of the secondary competition, the Pandemic Plate. 

With 7 teams confirmed the week of the quarter-finals, Newtown MGM managed to scrape together a group of players to enter as the 8th team and ensure football for all each night. Newtown MGM began life in the FNL with a 2-1 win over Bluestreak in the cup quarter-final. 

At the other side of the draw, Delta United knew their reward for overcoming Cutters would be a date with the winner of Team Lightning and Wembledines. A tough route to the final lay ahead! 

Hard work from both teams saw Delta United earn a 1-1 draw with Cutters. Cutters took the lead through a debut goal from Sean Doyle. After breaking the tackle, Sean Begley laid the ball off to Oisin O'Brien in midfield. After side stepping the ref, he passed the ball to Cian Moriarty who put in the perfect cross to Sean Doyle who slotted it into the back of the net. An equaliser from Delta United saw the game head straight to penalties. Sudden death saw Cutters snatch a 4-3 shootout win from the unlucky Delta United. 

In the tie of the round, last season's double winners Team Lightning faced Wembledines. After a scoreless first half, Jason Sheehan rose highest to head in an inswinging corner and give Lightning a 1-0 lead. The lead didn't last long as Dines equalised minutes later from the penalty spot. In the last quarter of the game, Team Lightning found that crucial third goal to secure a 2-1 win and book their place in the semi-finals. 

Semi-finals 

Night two saw three one-sided games with Bluestreak, Wembledines and Kearney's Army all scoring five goals in their respective ties. In the Pandemic Plate, a confident Bluestreak dispatched of St Pauli FC 5-1. In the other Plate semi, Wembledines proved too much for Delta United winning 5-0. 

In the Cup semi-final, despite playing much of the first half with 9 men, Newtown MGM managed to keep the tie alive coming in 1-0 down at half-time vs Kearney's Army. Struggling for numbers, and with many shouts to onlookers on the sideline of "do you wanna play", Newtown eventually succumbed to Kearney's Army and shipped four second half goals for a final score of Kearney's Army 5-0 Newtown MGM. Two good performances from Kearney's Army gave them a great chance at silverware as they progressed to the Covid Cup Final. Lying in wait was the winner of Cutters vs Team Lightning. 

In a replay of last year's Cup final, any lack of drama in the other three games was made up for by Cutters and Team Lightning. A matchup that is always tight and rarely decided by more than one goal, this game proved to be no different. Scoreless heading into the 59th minute, it looked like Cutters may be heading into their second penalty shootout in a row. A late breaking run from Ciaran Likely saw Lightning snatch it at the death. A shot that deflected off the post and keeper before going in meant Lightning progress to the final in dramatic fashion. 

Finals

In the third and fourth places playoffs. Delta United edged out St Pauli FC to finish their tournament on a strong note. An otherwise good attacking performance from St Pauli FC didn't see them hit the back of the net often enough as Delta United took their chances and ran out 2-1 winners.

Cutters were pegged back twice by Newtown MGM to see their second game of the tournament go to penalties. Cutters held their nerve and made it two shootout wins out of two.

In the Plate final, a first half Wembledines penalty was enough to see them secure the win versus Bluestreak and capture the once-in-a-lifetime FNL Pandemic Plate. 

In the FNL Covid Cup Final, Kearney's Army played Team Lightning. With one loss in their last 18 FNL games (a run stretching back to October 2019), and having overcome Wembledines and Cutters, Team Lightning were hot favourites in this one. 

With 8 goals in their two games, the 2020 Intertoto Cup Winners Kearney's Army were eager to seize their opportunity and add the 2021 Covid Cup to their trophy cabinet. 

12 minutes into the game saw Lightning hit the front. A through ball from midfield found Wobbler who forced a good save from the feet of the Kearney's keeper. David Njuki was on hand to follow up and slot home the rebound. 

10 minutes later saw Lightning break down the right hand side and add a second to go 2-0 up going in at half time. 

Lightning saw out the game in a professional manner adding a third in the second half. Kearney's Army pulled one back with 8 minutes to go to give Team Lightning a late sweat but it was too little too late as Team Lightning scored with a late counter to give a final score of Team Lightning 4-1 Kearney's Army.