Last year, despite the Division One championship success, the season was soured for many by the embarassing Cup loss to Portmarnock. This year, we've been relegated but the season has somehow been rescued by this Cup win. Football is a strange and beautiful game, as Dundalk have shown this year.

Last year, Cup fever brought many to Baldonnel for the game that never went ahead, and when it did eventually go ahead behind closed doors several Dundalk fans still travelled out to watch from behind a fence, as Dundalk endured the most humiliating defeat in their history. After the game, there was scenes of total desolation and Dundalk fans stood in silence, trying to hold back the tears after an utterly humiliating day.

It all seems a world away from Tolka Park yesterday, as those fans, and around 5,000 other Dundalk fans basked in the glorious April sunshine as an improved Dundalk side, still including many of the side which lost to Portmarnock won the FAI Cup.

All day long the cup atmosphere had been building, and by the time 3:30 came around anticipation was at fever pitch. James Keddy, the hero of the Cup run to date missed out, and Chris Lawless continued on the left side of midfield. Thankfully, goalscorer supreme Gary Haylock had returned from injury and replaced Cormac Malone in the starting line up, to link up again with Martin Reilly hoping to repeat the tonic which destroyed Rovers in the semi finals.

Watching from the back of the Ballybough End, I'd love to say I had a perfect and unbiased view of the Cup final, and therefore proceed to give a thoroughly accurate view but to be honest, I was too caught up in the whole occasion to truly take in what was happening on the field. Similar to the Rovers game, we started on the backfoot and Bohs forced a few early free kicks which John Connolly dealt with comfortably, a prelude of things to come. On the break, we did look dangerous with Haylock and Reilly lively and already, ominous gaps were beginning to appear in the Bohs backline, with Dundalk almost surprised and stunned on the first few occasions to find themselves in such space. David Hoey fired over early on when his marker went missing, and that was only one example.

The atmosphere was electric, and Dundalk were settling into the game. In fact, Stephen McGuinness could have opened the scoring as the game passed the twenty minute mark when he headed over from a cross by central defensive partner Donal Broughan. Bohs were all over the place on corners as minutes later John Flanagan's header from a left wing corner was saved by Russell. Bohs threatened, but their final delivery was at times, awful. Glenn Crowe was anonymous as crosses by Rutherford and Morrison went into the Dundalk crowd in the Ballybough End, and not to their intended target.

On 35 minutes, we had what many Dundalk pessimists feared would be the pivotal moment of the game. A Bohs attack broke down and Bucky Lawless burst forward as Dundalk counterattacked. He played a marvellous crossfield ball to the Bohs penalty area which Kevin Hunt miscontrolled. Ciaran Kavanagh nipped in and flicked the ball to Martin Reilly who with the goal at his mercy on his left foot elected to try and switch feet, which gave Bohs' Tony O'Connor a chance to make the crucial block. A great opportunity squandered.

A few short minutes later, Bohs wandered forward and it was that man O'Connor, the hero of last year's Cup Final who was about to make another rare goalscoring contribution. He shrugged off the challenge of Ciaran Kavanagh twenty five yards out, and as Broughan and Crawley stood off he steadied himself to a fire a 20 yard daisy cutter low and beyond the reach of John Connolly in the Dundalk goals. The Bohs' fans, strangely muted for most of the game finally found their voices to celebrate the goal. History repeating, as far as they were concerned.

The Dundalk spirit could easily have dropped then, and Martin Murray afterwards agreed the earlier in the season it would have been pretty much game over. However, we didn't have Gary Haylock then, and if you have an absolute class act such as the 31 year old Englishman in your side, anything is possible. On 44 minutes, he scored the goal which kept the dream alive and sent Dundalk into half time with the impetus. The build up was simple with Dundalk making use of the aforementiong gaping space around the Bohs area.

John Flanagan and David Hoey, two local players who have been with the club in the dark days, and now have FAI Cup medals to their name, created the chance for Haylock. Hoey's cross into the area reached Haylock with his back to goal twelve yards out. His first touch took the ball further away but his second touch with one movement of his body curled the ball around his marker and left bleach headed Wayne Russell completely wrong footed as the ball flew into the far corner of the net. Haylock went to the corner flag in trademark mode as the black and white army celebrated. Halftime was a party after that strike.

The start of the second half was delayed as a hole appeared in the nets in front of the Ballybough End, and the delay as a stepladder was called to fix the problem only served to increase the atmosphere further. The game started, and within four minutes Dundalk were in front. Martin Reilly forced a corner, and Ciaran Kavanagh trotted over to swing the ball in. Again, Bohs' marking from the corner was all over the place as Stephen McGuinness unmarked headed goalwards. The ball rebounded off Gary Haylock in the six yard box who took his chance from close range. The ball did hit his arm, but it was a simple case of ball to arm, not arm to ball. Dundalk were forty minutes away from FAI Cup Final. It felt like hours.

I cannot accurately describe the last forty minutes, such was the tension of the situation. The players were all heroic. From the restart Rutherford threatened and roved into the Dundalk area. David Hoey came back and made a magnificent challenge which embodied the spirit of the side. John Whyte otherwise shackled Rutherford brilliant. Crawley led from the back. Bucky made dangerous runs down the left and in the middle Flanagan and Kavanagh fought for every single ball. The front pair were always dangerous, while at the back Broughan and McGuinness blocked everything they could and restricted Glenn Crowe to a grand total of 0 shots in the 90 minutes. It's dubious if he would have scored anyway, as John Connolly was in terrific form. One catch in particular from a left wing cross saw the keeper soar and grab the ball from over the head of Crowe. At that moment, Dundalk confidence was at an all time high. It was beginning to look possible we could actually do this.

The signs were there. Bohs passes were being misjudged, and when they did string a few together the end result was normally a skied shot. The classy Hunt came closest with an eighteen yard effort. Martin Reilly could have made it three when a long ball left him clean through but he volleyed wide from twenty yards. Bohs nearly scored when a cross from the left found Molloy but Donal Broughan made a heroic block to prevent a certain goal.

On 73 minutes, Haylock and Reilly again caused havoc as on the break the Englishman dinked a beautiful ball over the top for the pacey Reilly to chase. He was the last man, although Colin Hawkins was coming cross. Simon Webb pulled him back and Reilly went down. The ref waved play on to howls of derision from the Dundalk fans. However, the linesman called the ref over and offered his view on the incident. The foul was given, and it was deemed a professional foul. Webb was off.

Harsh ? There's no doubt it was a foul but the question is, would Reilly have got to the ball ahead of Hawkins ? With his pace it is quite possible he would have, so the decision in my completely biased opinion was just !

Surely now, we could not throw it away. The Cup was in our hands, it was there for us. But fifteen minutes remained. Lawless was carrying a knock and was replaced by another local player who has emerged this season, Cormac McArdle. Unconsciously, Dundalk sat back as the full time pros searched for the goal which would salvage their season. It wasn't coming.

They made a double sub bringing on O'Neill and Paul Byrne but it wasn't making much difference. Hero Haylock, an injury doubt all week went off to a heroes reception as the ninety minute mark approached, replaced by another local player Cormac Malone, the eighth Louthman of the 13 who played on this glorious day.

The Dundalk noise got louder, as Cup success beckoned. The electronic board man told us there was four minutes to go. Almost immediately a Bohs ball into the area was knocked down in the direction of O'Neill ten yards out. For a horrible second it looked like the equaliser was nigh but Stephen McGuinness launched in with a magnificent last ditch tackle which blocked the ball straight into the arms of John Connolly. Immediately, he went down, and spent a few minutes on the turf. Half injury, half experience no doubt.

The delay killed the tension of the last four minutes, and surprisingly, the ref blew up quite soon after McGuinness came back onto the field. The minute the final whistle went was pure heaven as the Dundalk players leapt up into the air and ran to the crowd, as Bohs players stared into space, wondering why they had been turned over by the 4/1 outsiders of two. Many had availed of the generous price, to add financial reward to the emotional joy of the occasion.

After that, it's all a bit of a haze. On the pitch, the players and directors embraced. The likes of James Keddy and other squad members who weren't involved today danced around in suits, and it should not be remembered the part he played in this Cup win. He deserves the chance to play for Dundalk in Europe, because on that rainy night in Ballybofey he ensured we stayed on the road to get there.

Haylock was called up to collect man of the match as all around players conducted interviews for national and local media. The excitement was unreal. For many Dundalk fans, the World Cup will be an anti climax after this.

At 5:40pm as the sun started to go down, David Crawley was the last man on the podium to collect his medal. He was last for a reason. There was a Cup to collect. In the latest of a long string of ironic occurances on the day, the man to hand him the Cup was Milo Corcoran, the man whose decision allowed Kilkenny City take the playoff place ahead of Dundalk back in 2000. He couldn't deny Dundalk this success.

Crawley took the Cup, and raised it aloft as the Black and White Army went mental. The customary lap of honour followed, and credit where it's due to the Bohs supporters who stayed and applauded. Sometimes in defeat, you learn a lot more about people. The scenes the last time the sides met in Oriel were ugly with a minority element in both clubs tarring the otherwise good relationship there has always been between the clubs.

Many players go through their careers without winning an FAI Cup, so for the Dundalk players this is a special affair. Think of the likes of John Connolly and Donal Broughan, players who had dropped out of the eircom League before joining Dundalk, their last chance at a shot in the eircom League. They were headed for obscurity, and only joined Dundalk initially as short term quick fixes. Now they have another FAI Cup winners medal to their name, and a place in Dundalk history. John Whyte, who spent most of this season in the wilderness, but returned for the end of season run in to play his part in this success. Cormac Malone and Cormac McArdle, two local playrs who only broke into the side in 2002, David Hoey whose return from illness has been well documented and later told LMFM the scenes in the Dundalk when the team came home left all the players with tears in their eyes, and of course, David Crawley, the captain who I have often criticised but when it comes down to it, loves this club with a passion.

And you really can't take it away from Martin Murray either. We, as fans care passionately about our club. And when things go wrong, we get angry and I believe that is our right. At times though, we do go overboard and I deeply regret telling Martin Murray to f**k off away from our club after the 1-1 draw with Galway. Now, everything has changed, and he is the hero. We are a fickle lot, I suppose, but Mick McCarthy made a lot of mistakes before he finally got it right, maybe Martin Murray will be the same. The players all seem to respect him, and that speaks volumes. As well as a Cup winning player, he is now a Cup winning manager, a feat many would love to achieve.

This victory still hasn't sunk in yet. I'm not sure when it will. Possibly in the Summer when Dundalk enter the hat for the UEFA Cup draw, possibly over the next week or so when numerous receptions and all will be held to commemorate the success. I'm not really sure, but all I can is enjoy it. As Des Denning said last night, "this makes up for all the bad days".

Running an eircom League club can be a thankless task, with little reward to mirror the effort put into it. Days like this do not come along often, and when they do you have to savour every moment. We have done just that, and we'll be off to a Europe as a reward. This could be the start of something special.

For too long, perhaps, this club has been reflecting on past glories. Many have said those days will never come back. Why not ?

Recent weeks have shown that nothing is impossible. The spirit of Dundalk FC will never be quenched.

TEAM

1 John Connolly........................8

Great display

2 John Whyte.......................... 8

Rutherford had a bad day, Whyte the main reason

3 David Crawley ......................8

A captain's display

4 Donal Broughan.....................9

Bohs fans used to ridicule him. Whose laughing now ?

5 Stephen McGuinness..................9

He said he was here to win trophies. He's done so, and played a big part

6 John Flanagan...........................8

A gutsy display from Flano

7 Ciaran Kavanagh...................... 8

Always busy, he is a quality player

8 Martin Reilly...........................8

Pacy Reilly linked well with Haylock and always caused problems

9 Gary Haylock.........................10

What can you say ? The guy is a God

10 David Hoey.............................8

Typical Hoey. Gave his all, and enjoyed the success more than anyone

11 Chris Lawless........................ 8

Brave display out of favoured central position

SUBS

14 Cormac McArdle & 13 Cormac Malone for Lawless and Haylock

Neither on long enough to rate, but both deserved a part in the proceedings

Arron Callaghan, Liam Dunne, Justin O'Neill [not used]