FAI Cup Final Countdown - 1997 - Tragic death overshadows cup final defeat to Shelbourne

FAI Cup Final 1996/97

Shelbourne 2

Derry City 0

Felix Healy’s champions were unsurprisingly strong favourites to make it a league and cup double when they met Shelbourne in the FAI Cup Final at Dalymount Park on May 4.

The preparations for the final were completely overshadowed however by the tragic death of Conor O’Dowd, the brother of Derry City goalkeeper Tony. The news devastated not only the O’Dowd family, but the Derry camp, who knew just how close the brothers had been.

With O’Dowd understandably ruled out of the final as a consequence, Declan Devine took his place in goals for the biggest game of his career. A minute’s silence was held in honour of the O’Dowd family before the game with a clearly sombre Derry still reeling from meeting their devastated team mate earlier that morning.

It was no shock that Derry began sluggishly and a clearly nervous Devine almost gifted Stephen Geoghegan a goal before he finally settled into the game. The Candystripes, in front of 10,000 Derry supporters, began to grow into the game and they had the better chances in a goalless first half, with both Gary Beckett and Paul Curran going close.

However, the second half belonged to Shelbourne. The Dubliners began to take control and with just ten minutes remaining they made the breakthrough when Pascal Vaudequin’s cross found the head of Dave Campbell, whose close-range header took a deflection off Gavin Dykes to take it past Devine. The game was then up for Derry when Stephen Geoghegan took advantage of a mistake from the otherwise imperious Paul Curran to race away to score Shelbourne’s second to end Derry’s cup dream.

The loss was devastating for the Derry players, particularly Devine, who had hoped to present a winner’s medal to Tony O’Dowd. But a surprisingly upbeat Felix Healy addressed the media afterwards, stating that the death of Conor O’Dowd had put the game of football into perspective.

“If anything that put the final in perspective,” Peter Hutton admitted. “We were all geared up for the game but we were all shell-shocked when it happened. Given the season that we had been through, we were all a very tight group and it impacted on us all.

“We were still focused on trying to win the cup and everyone was looking forward to the final, but Tony called out to the hotel to wish us all the best and we all met him individually. We couldn’t get that picture of Tony out of our heads. It was a bit sombre on the bus going to the game and that didn’t help in terms of trying to win the trophy but in saying that, that’s not the reason we lost the game.

 “To be fair to Shels, they tactically got it right that day, playing five in midfield and having man to man markers. We didn’t play anywhere near our capabilities, and defensively we were fairly poor. We just didn’t get near the heights we had reached that season.”