Renfrew boss Jimmy Quigley wishes his side hadn’t had to rely on ‘Donald Duck’ to make it through their Demolition Cup semi-final with St Cadoc’s.
But he and his players had the last laugh when they held their nerve to book a spot in the last two after finally seeing off their Glasgow opponents from the spot.
Second Division leaders ‘Frew dominated the First Division leaders throughout at New Tinto Park but had to rely on a penalty shootout to seal progression.
Quigley dusted off his Cockney rhyming slang when he joked he wished his team hadn’t needed to rely on “Donald Duck” – luck – in a nervy ending to the match.
But he paid tribute to his players for firing themselves to a shot at silverware early next year, particularly keeper and captain Danny McLeay, who pulled off the pivotal last save to seal a 7-6 shootout win.
Quigley told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I thought we were excellent from start to finish. I’ve spoken lately about how slow our starts have been but we were on it from the first minute.
“We worked very hard, the front three in particular did brilliantly defensively. They were disappointed not to score but they did a lot of work for the team.
“Their keeper has made some great saves and Jamie Benton almost scored at the end, which would have spared us the penalties.
“Unfortunately we ended up relying on Donald Duck, but I told them just to be confident, pick their side and go with power.
“Their keeper got a hand on a couple of them but they put enough on the strikes to still find the net.
“Danny pulled off a great save to put us through and I’m delighted for him.
“He’s his own biggest critic sometimes so it was great for him as captain to pull that off in the key moment to send us through.”
Renfrew will have to park their dream of lifting the Demolition Cup for now, with the final against First Division side Whitletts Victoria not set to take place until February.
The New Western Park side have the chance to progress further in the WoSFL Cup this weekend when they take on Rutherglen Glencairn at home.
Quigley believes his boys will be up for the challenge, adding: “We need to put the Demolition Cup final to one side now.
“We’ve got another chance to go deep in another cup if we can beat Rutherglen on Saturday.
“It’s going to be tough against another strong team from the division above.
“But having beaten St Cadoc’s and dominated the majority of the game, we’ll certainly go into it full of confidence.”
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