Bohemians added the FAI Ford Cup to their Premier Division title after defeating Derry City on penalties in a windswept RDS.

In the first ever shootout in an FAI Cup final Lithuanian international Mindaugas Kolonas and goalkeeper Brian Murphy were the penalty heroes with the Lithuanian scoring the winner. Murphy saved brilliantly from Derry’s Kevin Deery and Ruaidhri Higgins to give Bohs a 4-2 victory in the shootout.

Derry made a better start to the match and against the wind took the game to Bohs from the off. Bohemians were struggling to keep the ball and didn’t seem to settle down until the twenty-minute mark.

Their first chance came from a Killian Brennan free kick on the edge of the box after Owen Heary was brought down. Brennan left Derry keeper Gerard Doherty rooted to the spot only to see his free kick strike the upright.

Derry got their first decent chance of the game just past the half hour mark. Gareth McGlynn sent over an inviting cross but Mark Farren’s near-post header was brilliantly touched over by Murphy.
However, the breakthrough did come for Derry.

On the hour mark after Gary Deegan fouled Farren on the edge of the box. Sammy Morrow stood up to blast a right-footed free kick high into Murphy’s top left corner and send the thousands of City fans into hysteria.

Immediately after Derry’s equaliser, Bohs manager Pat Fenlon introduced Kalonas to try to steer Bohs back into the lead. The Lithuanian made an immediate impact winning a corner following a mazey run deep in Derry territory. The ball was whipped in from the left and went through a dazed City defence before bouncing off the post into the path of Glen Crowe who had the
simplest of tap-ins.

On 70 minutes another Bohs corner was whipped in and referee Anthony Buttimer harshly awarded a penalty when he adjudged Sammy Morrow to have handled the ball. Jason Byrne stepped up and made no mistake to put the Dublin side into the lead.

However, an end-to-end game saw Derry back on level terms after 76 minutes when Morrow volleyed home from close range following a pinpoint cross from Niall McGinn on the left wing. Both sides pushed for a winner and Bohs’ Ken Oman went close with a header. As the game drew to a close the remained on level pegging, extra time beckoned.

Both teams pushed for a winner in extra time and as fatigue kicked in the game seemed to open up.
Brennan almost scored from Crowe’s right-wing cross at the early on but Doherty got down expertly to keep him out. McGinn drilled narrowly wide at the other end minutes later.

In the 114th minute, Crowe slotted the ball through for Kolonas, but he blazed over from ten yards.
With time running out and the prospect of penalties looming, McGinn got in behind Brennan but his low drilled shot was somehow kept out by Murphy.

That ensured penalties would be the decider. Bohs held their nerve to cap off a fantastic season and add the cup their league title.