A third penalty save of the season that has earned Cabinteely five points is a vital statistic in goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness’ favour. The club captain saved Conan Byrne’s last-gasp penalty kick at Tolka Park to extend the clubs recent unbeaten ru
A third penalty save of the season that has earned Cabinteely five points is a vital statistic in goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness’ favour. The club captain saved Conan Byrne’s last-gasp penalty kick at Tolka Park to extend the clubs recent unbeaten run to six games. It also ended First Division leaders Shelbourne’s eight-match winning run while failing to beat their Dublin rivals in the process for the third time in the 2019 campaign. “The last 20 seconds of the game were very exciting. The game felt like a derby. There was a lot of passion,” stated the custodian. “They wanted to smash us after the previous two games. But we came out with a game-plan. That was to get three points. A point a-piece, you’d probably look at it and say it was deserved from our side. They might feel they deserved the three points. But we’ll take the point.” McGuinness also praised the character of his team-mates as they responded from going a goal down at the Drumcondra venue before Shane Barnes’ first goal for the club helped secure would could prove to be a valuable point for the Stradbrook outfit. “The never say die attitude has been there all season. We’ve fallen behind in games but come back fighting. We’ve done at Bray and now twice against Shels. It’s been evident all year long, that it doesn’t matter what time is gone in the game, that we always have a chance to score.” With the play-off’s a big possibility now for Cabinteely, the 24-year-old stopper is looking at winning every single one of their final seven league fixtures. “Away from home, going to a very tough place like Tolka, against a very good team, to get a point is a very great result. It doesn’t matter who we play from now on, we have to be looking at all three points, home or away, if you want to be near the top of the table.” He continued, “From now on, every team in the Division is facing a tough game. We can only focus on ourselves. We’re still in a great position. We’re done with Bray and Shels. We have Longford and Drogheda in the next two games. If we can get six-points from there, we’ll hopefully be moving further up the table.”
