Cup preview: Clubs seek perfect end to resurgent seasons

FAI Cup final Sunday, and it's Derry City against Waterford on Lansdowne Road.

If not the biggest trophy in Irish soccer, it's certainly the one which holds the most romance.

While Shamrock Rovers have won six of the last seven League of Ireland titles, we've had five different cup winners in the same time.

Alas, the record cup final attendance of 43,881, set three years ago when St Patrick's Athletic beat Bohemians, won't be tested this afternoon, but a healthy crowd in the region of 30,000 is expected in Dublin 4.

On a good day, could the record for a final involving two non-Dublin clubs of 38,723 be broken? Maybe.

And while the cup represents a chance to see your team in the best soccer stadium in the country, and all the colour and excitement that goes with it, there's also the European qualification element for each club, and the potential financial boon that it can bring.

Derry City looking to continue astonishing cup record

Derry have an incredible record in the competition since they joined the League of Ireland in 1985.

Today will be their 13th trip to the final, having won on six of their previous trips to the capital, a record that has them fifth in the overall roll of honour. In their time in the league, they've won more FAI Cup titles than Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, who both have five since 1985.

Can the current crop bolster their reputation as cup specialists?

The story of their season has been pored over at this stage. They were the club seen as the biggest challengers to the dominance of Rovers, having spent big. James McClean's return to his hometown club was to be crowned with a league title.

It didn't work out that way, of course, with the Irish centurion eventually agreeing to end his contract with the club early amid a public war of words.

The team were never in the title race, flirting with the relegation play-off conversation for a period, and a partial recovery under interim manager Mark Connolly could only get them as high as fifth.

Europe is a must for any team with the spending capabilities of the Candystripes, and that's a huge element of what a victory for them would bring. To meet that expectation would turn a bad season into an acceptable one.

"This season as a whole has been a difficult one," Connolly told reporters at Tuesday's press conference.

"A lot of expectations from inside. A lot of expectations from outside. We didn't reach them. Players have struggled, the staff have struggled, the fans have struggled.

"I believe we've turned that around. I really, really believe we've changed it. I don't think a lot of people expected us to be going to the Aviva on Sunday, midway through the season."

For a team with such a good record in the competition, the last trip to Aviva Stadium will have stung.

Connolly was on the pitch in 2024 when Drogheda United surprised them and he'll try to instill that sense of hurt into his players as they return today.

Just three players who saw game time two years ago - Brian Maher, Adam O'Reilly and Michael Duffy - are still involved. Duffy is the potential match winner; a playmaker and a goalscorer. Acknowledging that is one thing but many have had a plan to deal with the Derry native and failed.

"The players have shown character and resilience in the last couple of months, something we were lacking in the first few months of the season," skipper Duffy said this week.

"Playing for Derry City means everything to everyone in the team now, subs included, and that's a big thing now."

Reflecting on his own form, he added: "I'm in great form now, had a wee dip in the middle of the season, some six or seven games and it took me a while to get back to myself again."

It's a reminder, as if Graham Coughlian needed it, that Duffy is in confident mood.

And while the Candystripes managed just 50 goals in the top flight this season, leaving them seventh in the scoring charts, Adam O'Reilly and James Clarke have been in decent scoring form recently. They give Connolly another outlet to try to unlock Waterford.

Waterford seeking rare silverware for the south-east

The Blues are in the cup final for the first time since 2004, and aiming to win it for the first time since 1980.

As elder statesmen of the team Pádraic Amond joked this week, "it's a long, long time - even I wasn't born."

Waterford's season has a somewhat similar form curve to Derry's, having started poorly before an upsurge.

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RTÉ Archives: Waterford end long wait to win the FAI Cup Final

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In fairness to the men from the south-east, their turnaround has been even more pronounced. The players woke up on the morning of 18 May preparing to face Drogheda United.

In their previous 16 games, they had failed to record a single victory. But a late Tommy Lonergan penalty that day handed them a first win of the season.

Including those three points, they did better than Shamrock Rovers over the course of the last 20 games of the season. It was enough to lift them to seventh place, and just six points off fourth spot.

Supporters will be dreaming of kicking off the 2027 campaign with that sort of form, and wondering where it could take them.

Their 2004 team included Alan Reynolds (whose Bohemians side were the only team to earn more points than the Blues in the last 20 games of the campaign), with Irish legend Paul McGrath as their Director of Football.

This season has been all about Graham Coughlan however, with his arrival in early May heralding in their brilliant run.

Coughlan has managed to get the best out of the aforementioned Amond, as well as the league's top scorer, Tommy Lonergan. Between them, they scored 36 goals this season, and the stage is set for them to cap 2026 on the biggest day.

October was a particularly pleasing month for Lonergan, one he called, "the best month of my life when it comes to football."

The Meath man is a fella for the big occasion, having previously scored in a cup final in 2023, while playing for St Patrick's Athletic. Lonergan also got the only goal in the 2022 promotion/relegation play-off, although Waterford supporters might want to forget that one, as it kept UCD in the top flight and condemned them to another season in the second tier.

The Blues haven't had a run in Europe since the late 80s, but a win today would bring it back for 2027, with at least two ties to look forward to, owing to the cup champions going into the Europa League.

It would make holding on to some of their best players that bit easier, while also making the RSC a more attractive destination for potential recruits.

"It would be brilliant for the club, the supporters, the staff, all those people who went through times, really tough times for the first three months of the season," Coughlan said of a potential cup win this week.

"They could not see any daylight, any way out, but to be able to reward them with survival and now a cup final has been remarkable.

"Me, I'm a little bit greedy, I want to win every game and Sunday will be no different."

This afternoon's game is the fifth meeting of the sides this season, with two draws and a win each in the previous four meetings.

You have to go back to February for Derry's 4-2 win at The Brandywell, while the Blues won at the same venue in early July.

The most recent clash ended in a 2-2 draw at the RSC in September, as Waterford twice came from behind to earn a share of the spoils.

What the experts says

Speaking on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former Derry manager Declan Devine was backing the Candystripes to get the job done.

"Michael Duffy is the man on Sunday," Devine said.

"He's the man who can win the game. He's just simply been superb all season for Derry City Football Club.

"He has the experience of the big occasion and for everything that Waterford have, they'll always have to face a really talented player in Duffy and someone that I feel can win the game for Derry on Sunday."

Fellow panelist Alan Cawley views it differently, suggesting that Waterford's patience could be the key this afternoon.

"I just think Waterford, like what we've seen against Bohemians, they're happy to hang in, have the other team have possession, but bang, hit them with (Pádraig) Amond and (Tommy) Lonergan or else a set-piece.

"So it'll be interesting, (with) two different styles. But I think that's where Waterford could have the edge, the physicality."

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Watch the Club Orange FAI Cup final, Derry City v Waterford FC, this afternoon from 2pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.