You really, really turned that game on their head.

Yeah, definitely.

Look, we said at the half-time, if Castlebar are as good as we think they are, they're going to come hard at us for the first 15, 20 minutes.

And that's what they did.

They put us a pin in our collar.

Jackson and Andrew were unbelievable.

Sent it back to great cost in the goal.

And Gary, like the last 24 hours, the preparation, travelling up on the Saturday, all that comes with that, I'm sure you're no stranger to it, you've done it in the past, but did that bring a bit of an air of expectation, pressure, excitement? What was the feeling in the camp?

Who wouldn't want to vote for that? Gary, your thoughts?

Well, you know, I'm not going to besmirch Mr. Rath or Mr. Wilson's character or their motivations.

However, I will say that when you look at the report, their transition report, it's pretty rosy.

It assumes a lot of things that ought not be assumed.

that they think are going to be easy.

They're not.

If you look at the province of Quebec, for example, they were prepared for separation because that referendum in 1980 and 1995 were actually sponsored by a government that had the mandate to seek independence.

Gary, your thoughts?

But did that bring a bit of an air of expectation, pressure, excitement? What was the feeling in the camp?

Yeah, no, I don't think there's any extra pressure from our camp.

Look, we were here a couple of years ago.

We played Westport in this venue a couple of years ago.

We've done the overnight, so a couple of times, no extra application.

Look, again, just our club, our committee is fantastic.

Barry Henderson, all the lads in the committee there left no stone unturned for us to come up here and win today.

and gary that's where we'll finish that fa junior cup final coming up and you'll work on it there'll be a lot of hard work done on the training ground but the positivity that will be around the club over the next little while i'd say it can't even be measured

This is something special, isn't it?

Yeah, look.

The FIA Junior Cup is the holy grail for junior football in the country.

And look, our club, our famous club, not to have an FIA Junior Cup at this stage is probably something that we want to put right.

And it's something that we would have said for the last number of years.

We thought we felt we were well-placed with all the top teams in the country.

And look, we're there now this year.

before I let the two of you go you mentioned the fans there Craig how big a difference how big an impact did they make today?

And Gary what's the build up like to a game like this from a I suppose from a preparation standpoint is it much of the same you know you do your training you know you probably not you know over emphasising too much about it or is there anything maybe changing the build up to such a big game and obviously having to travel you know the length of the country?

Ah look it was probably a little bit different after coming out with Pike Rovers we had to kind of readjust a little bit where we probably just done last week we done a little bit of recovery coming into we had a game obviously this weekend passed as well in the Leinster Senior Cup so we had to kind of weigh up the squad and weigh up where we were at so we were lucky enough that we had lads in the squad that were chomping at the bit for game time so we got to rotate a good bit of the squad and give lads an opportunity to stake a claim for the game this week what we've done this week I suppose we trained last night we changed up a little bit we were training Monday, Wednesday, Friday where we done our normal session last night the same probably a bit of analysis tomorrow night video analysis on Friday night and set pieces just there and be ready to go on Sunday look really if you're looking for at this stage going into a big match you're probably in trouble so we're happy where we're at in terms of preparation just about keeping that ticking over getting things right tactically and what to expect I suppose and painting pictures for the lads what to expect once they go up here on Sunday but generally we just try to keep things as normal as possible obviously have the different logistics here of so far away it is and the travel and all that but try and keep everything as normal as possible

you know these competitions are very very hard to win and and you know there's and there's four teams left in it that probably that haven't won it before i'm guessing coachford and trim celtic are in the other semi-final um so like it's a massive opportunity for all four teams that have got to this stage

yeah look i suppose we we say out in every year look and you're you're probably setting off every year i've often said or we've aspirations have been at this level but Look, it's so hard.

I always say that in our region where we come out of, I think our region is the toughest in the country.

Only four teams come out of our region.

When you break that down to the level of quality teams that we have in our area, you're always guaranteed to play a big team earlier where you don't get that in other areas that can coach through without playing anyone of any significance.

So to get to this stage, even just to get the last 32 coming from our county, I think is a massive achievement.

Um, in terms of Pike Rovers then, Gary, what do you know of them, and what do you expect?

Yeah, look, Pike Rovers are, I suppose they've, they've, they've won the FAI Junior Cup in recent years there.

Look, Limerick soccer are up there with the be- one of the best leagues in the country, um, one of the most competitive leagues, and last year's winners, Fairview Rangers, so the winners every couple years of always comes from Limerick Premier Division.

So look, Pike Rovers are a massive club, huge tradition, uh, great team, and look, it, it'll be a different test, I suppose, to Colgo.

Colgo was a real technical, tactical approach and tactical game in the way that they were coached.

We were probably expecting more old-fashioned, uh, more director style of, of football, I suppose, in, in terms of the approach by Pike Rovers on Sunday.

But again, it'll be a, a massive challenge, probably a little bit more physically and more, uh, demanding that way.

scenario.It's out of your hands, of course, Gary, but these road trips, first to Galway, now to Limerick, uh, if you're going to go far in this competition, you're certainly going to earn it.

Fairview, you were saying to me earlier, are the favourites in the bookies, are they?

Fairview are two to one favourites in the bookies.

They've been favourites out for a long while themselves in Villa and...

Villa got knocked out there recently to Trim Celtic, which was a shock to everyone.

But Trim, again, have won the Leinster Junior themselves in the last couple of years and have been knocking around the latter stage of these competitions for the last few years.

So, coaches from Cork won the Munster Junior last year.

They're still there as well.

Gosh, look.

Right and of course they were very good in the Galway League were they unbeaten like yourselves last season?

Yeah, look, they're a serious outfit, Colgate.

We knew that travelling up here.

They were unbeaten all year, similar to ourselves in Kilkenny.

Really good side.

Always try to play a great brand of football up here.

So we knew it was going to be a tough task.

Yeah, you're meeting the big guns, aren't you? Top-class league down in Limerick.

But I guess with this mixture of calendars between the national calendar and the FAI Junior Cup and the traditional league season, it's meant that last season never really fully finished.

Yeah, it's a little strange there, I suppose, the way the FAI Junior Cup campaign has gone this year.

Like last season, in fairness to the lad in the league, it went quite well in the sense that we had the league won in April and then we still had to play the FAI in May and we played the last round in June 24th when the Macalmer Cup was on the June Bank holiday weekend so we still had a bit of a gap in the middle there.

So with the FAI Junior Cup the way it's set, it kind of dragged out a bit but not playing until the 24th of June then didn't give us much of a breather in preparation for it so we literally only got two to three weeks off and we had to come back training to prepare for this Sunday so yeah it's a bit strange this time of year you'd probably be looking forward to a pre-season friendly or just getting lads back and getting them ticking over again but the preparation had to change this year and probably ramp up with more intensity than we would like to be doing this time of year but look it's where we want to be and we're excited and looking forward

How tiring has it been the last couple of months? Because everyone talks about the strength and depth that Evergreen has, but at the same time, if not physically, mentally, it must have been a really gruelling last nine months, even though it does help when you're winning.

Yeah, look, as I said to you, it probably would have been better for us if we won the league back in the end of April, early May, and then it kind of dragged out between cup matches, FIA matches with weeks off in the middle, where normally in May or June you wouldn't have them breaks.

it would have suited us better to maybe play all the matches condensed and then have a longer break just to give the lads a bit of a break mentally and physically.

But, yeah, look, like you say, when you're winning and things are going well, you find that motivation, you find that energy.

How did you see it from the line? Yeah,

early on I thought there was a bit of nervous tension in the game, early on I thought both teams were a little bit nervy and then actually it felt that we were creating, like Dermot after getting in Monster twice and got a couple of opportunities to keep and made a good save and then just before the red card, Dermot was throwing the goal and we felt maybe he got the shot away but could there have been a penalty or a drag, I don't know.

But then from there, I thought even Leeds, again, we settled in, we went to a 4-4-1 and we settled in and Eton got a great chance with Dareth flipping through at the back post just before the half-time and he just pulled the ball wide.

Then you look through the second half, I can't remember Cossie having a save to make in the whole 90 minutes.

So from my point of view, the second half, we probably created the better chances again now to 10 men.

But I thought, well, nil, but I thought we were full value for the win.

As I said, I'm full of emotion at the moment.

I mean, the FEI Cup keeps the season in life for you.

You've got less recognition for it, but you've introduced a lot of young players into your squad this season as well, Gary, and they've been a huge help to you.

Yeah, look, it's probably...

Yeah, we definitely introduced, my tenure like this is probably the most successful year I've had with bringing through youth and young players.

If you look at the scenario, probably we were backed into a corner a bit differently than the boys.

We were really injury prone at the start of the year.

We had some big players go with injuries.

We had a couple of young guys that stepped up from youth, Thomas Tracy and Regan Downie, who were going to be a part of the squad this year.

Tell us a bit about that.

Is there a chance that you think this could end up going that way as well?

Well, anything's possible.

Look, we're living in a world where there are changes, but we would be foolish not to try and predict what is going to happen in the United States.

I think that down the road, the idea that the United States can do without Canadian oil, is not a tenable prediction.

I think that they will continue to use us as an important source of their imports.

Back in 2000, if you listen to Ambassador Hoekstra, he would understand that in the year 2000, maybe 6% of U.S. oil imports came from Canada.

Today, it's about 60% of their imports.

And Gary, why does it take so long to get things pushed through here in Canada?