a day ago
Chris Forrester eyes another FAI Cup after St Patrick's Athletic victory over Shebourne
Chris Forrester is dreaming of more Sports Direct FAI Cup success with St Patrick's Athletic after reaching the quarter-final stage thanks to a 2-0 victory over Shelbourne at Richmond Park on Sunday evening.
Mason Melia opened the scoring for the Saints at the end of the first half with Forrester sealing the win from the penalty spot.
It was an impressive victory for Pat's given they were in Turkey on Thursday where they went 2-0 up against Besiktas before losing 3-2.
With their European campaign now over, domestic matters are the focus of the Inchicore outfit's attentions.
Their title hopes are long gone and there is work to do to claim a top three spot to book a spot in the Conference League next year.
Forrester have helped Pat's win two of the last four FAI Cups, so he knows what is stake in the coming weeks.
Asked if the Cup is particularly important now this year, Forrester told RTÉ Sport: "It always is, regardless of what's gone previously in our season. The FAI Cup games are some of the best days out in the calendar to be honest.
"I have lot of fond memories in the Cup for myself. It's always a big day and you want to get back to the Aviva. I'm just glad that we progressed today and we're in the hat for the next round.
"Everyone in the changing room knows that the FAI Cup is a route as well.
"We're fully focused on getting it through the league as well and not just hanging our hat on the Cup.
"We're progressing well, we're playing well at the moment. The carrot is there in the FAI Cup for Europe, but our league is bread and butter and we want to keep progressing in that."
The cultured midfielder was pleased with what he saw from his team-mates today as well as his manager.
Balancing three competitions at once is often difficult, so overcoming Shels was no easy feat.
Forrester explained: "It's been a tough couple of weeks for us, but everyone's pulling the same direction in there. We had a good game plan, we saw it through, and the boys came up with a good performance.
"Everyone's stuck to the game plan. I thought everyone pulled their weight away today, from the back line to Mason [Melia] up front and everyone throughout the whole team."
Forrester reserved special praise for teenage star Melia, who has gone from strength to strength in the last couple of months.
"I thought Mason was excellent today up top," Forrester said.
"He's really coming into it now, you can see it. He's really doing well. He seems to always score here. He led the line well for us today and we're really pleased with everyone."
