Tension, tears & terrible suits - Dungannon's '07 Irish Cup final

BBC News

01-05-2025

Clearer Water Irish Cup final: Cliftonville v Dungannon SwiftsDate: Saturday 3 May Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Kick-off: 14:30 GMTCoverage: Watch live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer & BBC Sport NI website from 14:00 BST, also live on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster. Follow live text updates with in-play clips on BBC Sport NI website & app.
"Some people thought that even to compete was a sort of victory for us, but when you're coming back down the road on the Ulsterbus and there's no trophy at the front of it, it's heart-wrenching."For much of Dungannon Swifts' 76-year history, the thought of reaching the Irish Cup final would have felt a fanciful notion. Then again, so too would have been becoming regulars in the Irish Premiership, European qualification and Setanta Cup participation.That all changed in the space of a few short years when, first under Joe McAree and then Harry Fay, a young and exciting Swifts side scaled new heights at Stangmore Park.With bigger clubs circling their best players, the team was soon to be picked apart but not before what midfielder Shane McCabe calls one last "David versus Goliath" battle - the 2007 Irish Cup final against an all-conquering Linfield side.What had been a dream run would have a nightmare finish however, as the County Tyrone side became the first and so far, only side to lose an Irish Cup on penalties. As the Swifts return to the showpiece fixture to take on Cliftonville on Saturday, BBC Sport NI looks back at the club's only previous final appearance.
In stark contrast to how their Irish Cup run would end, Dungannon had experienced elation from 12 yards in the semi-finals.After 120 goalless minutes against Saturday's opponents Cliftonville at the Oval, five Swifts players stepped up in the shootout and all five scored.The winning spot-kick was provided by an unlikely hero."When the manager Harry Fay asked who wanted to hit them, you got the obvious ones putting their hands up and nobody else," recalled defender Adam McMinn, who was just 23-years-old at the time."I put my hand up and I could see everyone looking at me, all the ball players were there as if to say, 'Put your flipping hand down!'"I remember Jackie Fullerton interviewing me for the TV afterwards and saying, 'You must have been nervous stepping up there?' But I have to say I wasn't one bit nervous, I was confident."McMinn jokes now that the feeling was perhaps not universal."I was known for heading and tackling, there was no fancy footwork."Whenever Mark Holland missed for Cliftonville and I stepped forward out of the centre circle. I'm always telling people that the main stand at the Oval still tilts forward from all our fans putting their heads in their hands at the same time."
McCabe, who would go on to represent Fermanagh GAA in an Ulster final and be a part of the last Glentoran squad to win the league title, remembers the cup final appearance then feeling like "uncharted waters" for a young side and club who had been promoted to the top-flight for the first time only four years previously. "We were punching well above our weight for two or three years," he said."We'd finished fourth two years in a row, but there weren't too many players in that squad who had ever played in a final so there was a different atmosphere about the place."The media were down round the ground and it was strange for players as we were used to just turning up and going on about our business."One player who did have previous experience of finals, although not at senior level, was striker David Scullion who was an Aston Villa team-mate of Steven Davis when they beat Wayne Rooney's Everton in the FA Youth Cup decider in 2002.Even against a Linfield side who had completed a famous clean sweep of available trophies the previous season, he feels there was a fearlessness evident in a young Dungannon squad."That was probably one of the best Linfield sides ever and, I think we were massive underdogs, but we didn't feel that way," he said."We were young as well, everyone in their early 20s, so we were all a bit fearless, or maybe all just a bit naive, whatever way you want to call it."
The Swifts were captained in the final by their current boss Rodney McAree, a player Scullion believes was "the best midfielder in the Irish League" at the time of the 2007 final.For all McAree's ability in the middle of the park, McCabe still questions one of the skipper's decisions on the big day."Who picked that look?" he said of the Swifts' cup final suits."I'm going to put that on Rodney McAree's table. They were unique suits, let's say."There was a good Fermanagh group of us and walking about Enniskillen in these cream suits waiting to get our lifts. People didn't know what was happening."After a rousing send-off from Stangmore Park, with some of the players' partners following on to Belfast in limousines, for McMinn it was standing in the tunnel at Windsor Park when it really hit home that an Irish Cup final was a different occasion. "Linfield were meant to be the away team that day, but we were obviously in the away end, they still got the home changing room. "Then it wasn't the IFA flags in the corner either, it was Linfield flags, so there were those wee bits where you were thinking was it a cup final or a Linfield home game?"Then walking down the tunnel, you hear the echo of the crowd outside. I turned round to Johnny Montgomery and goes 'Is this real?'"Thousands and thousands of fans and I remember thinking, I can't imagine what it must be like to be playing in front of 60,000, 70,000 week in, week out."
Perhaps the occasion played some part in Dungannon's start with Linfield taking the lead after only three minutes through Mark Dickson.Rory Hamill would equalise, however, and when Glenn Ferguson put the Blues ahead again, this time it was McAree who pegged them back.Rodney's father Joe, a Dungannon Swifts legend in his own right, would miss his son's goal after leaving his seat for a half-time television interview. After no goals followed in either the second half or extra time, the game went to penalties.In the early stages of the shootout, it looked as if Swifts keeper Dwayne Nelson was to write his name into Dungannon lore as he saved from Jim Ervin and Thomas Stewart, while Johnny Montgomery successfully dispatched their first penalty. Hamill would miss Dungannon's second kick and Everaldo their third, with Ferguson scoring for Linfield in between despite Nelson getting a strong hand to the shot. Ultimately, Alan Mannus saved Dungannon's fifth penalty from Mark McAllister to secure another trophy for Linfield."My biggest regret of the day was that I didn't take the second penalty," remembered McAree, who was successful with Dungannon's fourth kick."It doesn't mean I would have scored, but I was probably one of the penalty takers at that stage and you get your best penalty takers up first."In hindsight, if I take the second one and score, we go 2-0 up, but I had visions of myself hitting the fourth one, that it would be the one that won it, and I'd run around with my top off swinging it around my head."Unfortunately, it didn't get to that stage."McAree is not the only one who left Windsor Park with regrets."I wasn't renowned for hitting penalties, but I should have taken one," said McCabe."Johnny [Montgomery], Rodney and myself were probably the leaders within the group. Does an older, more experienced Shane ask why I didn't take one? Most definitely."They missed them, but I should have had the responsibility to go and take one."If I was speaking to my 14-year-old son, or my 11-year-old or five-year-old, I'd be saying go and take one...don't be afraid to miss."
"If the semi-final was the best day I had on a football pitch, the final was the first time I came off the pitch and cried," said McMinn."Colin Jeffers, he'd been coach when I was in the reserves and he came over and gave me a hug and I just burst into tears. "It felt like we had the trophy halfway to Dungannon, but that's the way it goes unfortunately."Scullion, who had been subbed off in the final few minutes of normal time and had to helplessly watch the penalties unfold, would go on to score the winner in an Irish Cup final for Glentoran against Portadown in 2015."It's the two extremes of a cup final. If you win, you're ecstatic and it goes on for weeks. "It's still going on actually, people still mention it to me, but it's cruel when you lose, especially on penalties. "In hindsight, it was great for Dungannon to get there, but you're remembered for winning. Afterwards, when you've lost, you're just completely deflated."For those that played with McAree in that final, and still hold Dungannon close to their hearts, Saturday's final has the feeling of things coming full circle."When we were at Dungannon, Joe McAree was like God there, so that must make Rodney the Messiah now," added Scullion."It's probably the club I look back on with the most affection and I'd be delighted for them if they won."I think it seems written in the stars for them with Rod there. Hopefully I'm right."