Kildare's Feely and Noonan gearing up for FAI Cup Final 

Two of Kildare’s brightest young stars are gearing up for an unlikely FAI Cup final in four weeks’ time when Rory Feely ‘s Cork City take on Michael Noonan’s Shamrock Rovers.

Athy’s Rory Feely was in from the start on Friday night against his old club as Cork City stunned St Patrick’s Athletic at Turners Cross. 

Having won only four games all season and all but guaranteed relegation from the League of Ireland Premier Division as the league's bottom side, few - if any - would have given Cork any kind of chance against St Pat's. The club Feely began his professional career with over ten years ago currently sit in a comfortable 5th place in the league and were strong favourites to win the semi-final. 

So bad is the situation at Cork that the game was preempted by a fan demonstration against club owner Dermot Usher, delaying kick-off by five minutes. But once the game got under way, the home side took an early lead and never looked back. Pat's won 4-0 when the sides met in the league just two weeks prior, but Cork were two goals up with 20 minutes of the semi-final left to play before adding a third goal that secured their place in the cup decider.

Feely's career took him from St Pat's to Waterford, then back to Pat's before his move to Bohemians. He joined English side Barrow in 2022 where he made 66 appearances for the League 2 club before signing for League 1's Crawley Town in 2024. 

Yet a victory for Cork City on November 9th in the Aviva Stadium would represent the Athy defender's greatest success in football. 

Standing in his way, however, are Shamrock Rovers and Rathangan’s Michael Noonan - a player at the opposite end of his career to that of Feely.

Noonan also started his professional career with St Pat's, but his debut came ten years after Feely. Like his Athy counterpart, Noonan soon left Pat's, signing for Rovers in January of this year. The young striker made history in his debut for the club, becoming the youngest player ever to score in the UEFA Conference League when he rippled the net away to Norwegian side Molde. 

Noonan has so far made over 40 appearances for Rovers and recently brought his goal tally into double figures as the Tallaght side look certain to capture another league title. Noonan bagged a brace of goals on Sunday as Rovers eased past Kerry and into the FAI Cup final, where they will be overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy and complete a mightily impressive double for 2025. 

Still just 17 years old, Noonan may actually miss the day out in the Aviva as the Cup Final coincides with the World Youth Cup in Qatar - a tournament he is very likely to feature in, with Ireland boss Colin O’Brien expected to name Noonan in the squad.