An opportune time to make history

FAI Cup final Countdown: Emmet Malone talks to Longford Town captain Barry Ferguson about their chances of winning a first senior trophy and his return from Coventry

It was what seemed the standard education for Ireland's brightest teenage talents, but Barry Ferguson has put a prolonged spell in the Coventry City reserves firmly behind him.

He is doing this to establish himself as a key figure in the Longford Town side that will take on St Patrick's Athletic in this weekend's FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road.

The 24-year-old Dubliner laughs as he looks back now on how cushy life was at Highfield Road and how things have changed since he returned home, took on a full-time job with An Post and settled down with his girlfriend Sarah and their 18-month-old daughter, Ellie.

"It's some change all right," he grins. "Over there everyone kept talking about rest and relaxation so on a match day you'd get out of bed at maybe 10 o'clock, go down to the training ground for an hour or so and then head back home for a sleep before the pre-match routine.

"Here, before a home match, I'm up for work at 5.30 in the morning and after I get back I get as much rest as an 18-month-old will let you before heading off to be in Longford by three.

"Sarah is very good in terms of looking after Ellie but it's tough going, although some of the lads have two or three kids and jobs where they're out at seven or eight and then have to go straight on to training. I don't think I could cope with that for any length of time."

The week, though, nothing feels like it takes much of an effort for the central defender. The build up to Sunday's final may only have started in earnest yesterday, after the previous night's home defeat by Derry. But in Longford there is a sense of excitement about the game and the opportunity it presents for the town's club to win its first trophy in senior football.

"It would be great for the club and it's important that we end the whole thing about not having won anything before," says Ferguson. "Everyone is affected by it, people saying, 'you'll be the first players, the first manager, the first chairman. When we lost the League Cup final to Pat's a couple of months back the lads were all broken hearted afterwards, it was like they'd lost the World Cup final. But I think we'll be better this time because of that experience.

"I missed a penalty in that game and a few of the other lads missed good chances but that's what happens when you have a young team playing in a cup final for the first time, the pressure tells. This time we all know what to expect and we're looking to make up for the disappointment."

For Ferguson, leading the team to that first piece of silverware would be another important step towards fulfilling the promise he showed as a teenager at Home Farm. Alan Matthews, then assistant to Dermot Keely at the club, was in no doubt about the young defender's potential and by the time the management team moved on to Shelbourne the then 17-year-old was already a fixture in the first team.

With Tony McCarthy and Pat Scully firmly established at Tolka Park, Ferguson was left behind but there had already been interest in bringing him to England and after Coventry signed him Matthews continued to keep a close eye on his progress both at club level and with a succession of Irish teams.

"I was surprised he didn't end up making a good living for himself over there to be honest because he's strong, aggressive, good in the air and fairly quick," says the Longford boss. "He's an old-fashioned central defender but while people talk about the modern game there's always a demand for good ones of those.

"When it became clear that he might end up coming home despite offers to play in the lower divisions in England I was always keen to get him."

He has since made him his skipper and is confident the defender can lead a young Longford team to victory. Ferguson is reluctant to make predictions about the outcome and pays tribute to "the heart and will to win" St Patrick's showed in their semi-final replay victory over Bohemians.

"I don't think anything will ever compare for me to playing for Ireland, I was at the under-20 World Cup in Nigeria and scored against Northern Ireland in my first game for the under-21s. Those are really special things that I'll have forever but a cup final at Lansdowne Road, let's face it, it's as close as it gets. It's going to be a great and this time we think we can do it."