IT’S HARD TO believe that when Stephen Kenny was appointed Dundalk manager just over three years ago, the club were in dire straits and had just survived a promotion/relegation play-off against Waterford United.

The former Shamrock Rovers and Dunfermline boss has overseen a remarkable turnaround — finishing second in his first season in charge, before guiding the Lillywhites to back-to-back league titles and now an FAI Cup triumph — their first since 2002 and 10th in total.

“It was a great effort by the players to win like that,” Kenny said, reflecting on his side’s hard-fought extra-time win yesterday. “Cork have great competitors all over the park. They don’t give you an inch.

“We found the first half difficult after the first 20 minutes. The game was frenetic and it was difficult to get a foothold on it. We managed to do that in extra time.

“We had the best chances on the day but Mark McNulty played very well in goal. While it’s 0-0, you always know you can concede right at the death and it’s over.

“We took our chance when it came and it was a clinical finish from Richie (Towell) after a brilliant bit of skill from Daryl (Horgan) on the left — he was doing that all game, so we’ll take that.”

Widely regarded as the League of Ireland’s most technically gifted team, Kenny says Dundalk could scarely afford to go long despite adverse weather conditions at a rain-soaked Aviva Stadium.

“It was important that we didn’t go too direct because that’s where Cork are very strong.

“We kept passing the ball, and we were at our best when we were making sharp, incisive passes in the middle of the field in front of their back four. Our crossing probably wasn’t as good as it’s been at all. But there were some really tremendous displays. There are different ways to win a match — it wasn’t scintillating today, but it was good enough to win and I thought we were worthy winners.”

Dundalk skipper Stephen O’Donnell, who was an injury doubt for the game and has had to deal with serious setbacks in the past, did not start, but came on for Sean Gannon just before half-time, after the defender picked up a knock.

“He’s an incredible character Stephen, a great captain,” Kenny said. “The temptation is always to play your best players but we had to make a calculated decision not to start him. When we were making our substitutions, we were thinking was he going to come back off, as I felt he was running the show. Could he get through it or not? We didn’t know, but we decided just to go for it and he’s a credit to himself.

“It’s a tremendous effort from everyone at the club. The backroom team have done a great job. The players are a very selfless group. They showed their quality over the season, and it was an incredible season really.”

But far from being relieved at the prospect of relaxing following the culmination of another exhausting campaign, Kenny says his players are reluctant to put their feet up now that their goals have been achieved.

“The season’s ended a bit too soon for us. We feel as if we could go on for another 10 games. Yesterday was our last training session — people were disappointed. Some teams think ‘we can’t wait to finish and take a rest,’ but this group are disappointed that they can’t train more.”

Of Sunday’s climactic match, the Dubliner added: “It was great to win it, because I’ve been in the dressing room when you lose it, and it’s very hard to take. So you never take (winning) for granted.

“Cork are physically very strong and they have players who achieved a lot during their careers and they made it tough for us. We had to show different qualities today.”

And asked whether it was his greatest day in football, Kenny gave a droll response: “No. I’ll tell you when that comes,” he smiled.

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