Preston North End duo reach cup final to lift mood amid club's imminent relegation
PNE have two players out on loan at the Irish club
Preston North End’s loan duo Kitt Nelson and Kaedyn Kamara have reached the FAI Cup final with Cork City.
It has been a league campaign to forget for the relegation-bound League of Ireland Premier Division side. But, Friday night - following fan protests - proved to be an evening to remember as Cork ran out 3-0 winners over St Pat’s in the semi-final.
Nelson was brought back into the side and played the full 90 minutes, while Kamara came off the bench on 78 minutes. Nelson has made 35 appearances for Cork this season, scoring six goals and assisting one. Kamara linked up with the Irish club in July, and he has featured 11 times for the Turner’s Cross outfit - scoring once.
It was former PNE striker Sean Maguire who fired the hosts ahead on 10 minutes. Evan McLaughlin then scored two in as many minutes in the second half, to book Cork’s place in the final at the Aviva Stadium, on November 9. It is their first visit there since 2018; the winners will compete in next season’s UEFA Conference League. Cork will face the winner of Shamrock Rovers vs Kerry.
Maguire’s goal set Cork on their way to a first win over Pat’s in 18 attempts - one which came just 11 days after losing 4-0 to them in the league. For the ex-North End striker, there was added motivation on the night.
The game saw him line up against Stephen Kenny’s side. Kenny, who was overseeing his 1,000th club game as a manager, had Maguire at Dundalk and then took the Republic of Ireland job between 2020 and 2023.
Ahead of the game, Maguire told the Irish Examiner: “I think I probably spoke more to Stephen after the game when we played Pat’s, when we lost 3-2, than I did when he was Ireland manager.
“Look, there's no bad blood from my side. But, could I have wanted things to have been done better on his side? Yeah, 100%. I think I proved to him that he shouldn't - not treat me the way he did because it was a good Dundalk team that time - but when I went to Cork for two years, I probably showed him what he was missing.
“He becomes Ireland manager then and I'm thinking maybe this relationship might change a little bit, but things probably got worse. I didn't get into one Ireland squad when I thought I was doing quite well at Preston, but it is what it is. I was in every squad with Martin, Mick, and then when Stephen came in, he just shut me out sort of thing.
“I thought this would be a time to kind of rejuvenate the relationship…maybe he wanted to bring up the younger players; they're doing well now, the likes of Troy (Parrott) and Adam (Idah), so you can't really go against him like that.
“But he brought me into squads at the time when I was doing well at Preston, and didn't even put me on the bench - stuff like that. I’m never going to say no to getting called up by your country, but when you're sat as the 24th man in the stands, sat by yourself over in Bulgaria, it's not nice, especially when it was during Covid.
“I'd go back to Preston, and it took me a couple of weeks to get back up to speed. Just things like that. I could go on all day about it, but you've probably got a little bit of a taste of it!”